Department for Transport

Roads: Standards

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of potholes on road users in England.

Mr Richard Holden: Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area, including the fixing of potholes. It is for each local authority to decide how best to do this and it is for local decision makers to determine how to prioritise local spending. Well-planned maintenance to prevent potholes and other defects from forming in the first place is vital, and the Department for Transport advocates a risk-based, whole life-cycle asset management approach to all aspects of the local highway network, including the road surface. The Department also encourages good practice in highway maintenance for all local highway authorities and endorses the UK Roads Leadership Group’s (UKRLG) ‘Well Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice’.

A19

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) safety and (b) accessibility of the A19.

Mr Richard Holden: The A19 north of Thirsk is part of the strategic road network managed by National Highways. Safety is National Highways number one priority, and it is committed to continue improving road safety for all its customers, work force and supply chain across the network, including the A19. National Highways has delivered a number of schemes recently on the A19, including carriageway widening between Norton and Wynyard, as well as new junctions at Testos and Downhill Lane, both of which are aimed at improving road safety, reducing congestion and enhancing accessibility for non-motorised users. It is also delivering a rolling programme of safety improvements at central reserve gaps along the A19.   The A19 is considered in National Highways London to Scotland East (North) route strategy. This will consider further work packages of interventions that address safety concerns on the route. It will also identify wider active travel, environmental, and resilience measures where possible. With regards to the accessibility of the A19, the route strategies process has used a broad range of metrics and stakeholder input to consider this, including: severance caused by the physical infrastructure, particularly the impact this has on pedestrians, cyclists and local communities; the physical capacity of the A19 and associated delay experienced by drivers; and the accessibility that the A19 affords to the work places and communities of the urban areas that it serves. The initial findings of the London to Scotland East (North) route strategy will be published in the coming months. National Highways will continue to review the performance of the A19 and engage with its stakeholders ahead of the publication of final route strategies alongside its Strategic Business Plan and Delivery Plan following the publication of RIS3.

Buses: Electric Vehicles

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many electric buses were introduced into (a) the UK and (b) Leeds in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022 and (v) to date in 2023; and what estimate he has made of the number planned to be introduced in (A) 2023, (B) 2024 and (C) 2025.

Mr Richard Holden: In the UK, in 2019, 105 Zero Emission Buses (ZEB) were registered for the first time. In 2020, this was 269, in 2021, 621, and for 2022, 649. This means, in 2021 and 2022, ZEBs equated to around 50% of new bus registrations in the UK. In Leeds, 9 ZEBs were introduced in 2020, with a further 12 delivered in 2021. These were supported by the Department’s Ultra Low Emission Bus (ULEB) Scheme and through Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding. As part of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) received over £24 million to support 111 ZEBs, to serve Leeds, and other districts of the Combined Authority. Additionally, WYCA received funding through the Department’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) for a further 8 ZEBs. These are currently going through procurement exercises, and I would expect them to be delivered soon. We also anticipate that up to the following ZEBs to be on the road over the next three years: 1,216 ZEBs funded by the ZEBRA scheme, and a further 20 Hydrogen buses funded by the ULEB schemeAt least 63 buses funded as part of the Coventry All Electric Bus City scheme on top of the 112 already in service.220 ZEBs funded by the Scottish Government100 ZEBs funded by the Northern Irish Executive I also welcome National Express’ recent announcement that they are investing in 300 UK-made electric buses, to be delivered by end of 2024. This investment was supported by uplift for ZEBs through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG). The Department will provide details on future ZEB funding shortly.

Public Transport: Standards

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support he is providing to (a) local and (b) combined authorities to help them achieve their public transport objectives for (I) buses and (II) rail.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government is providing over £1billion to 34 local transport authorities, including combined authorities, to support the delivery of their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs). £5.7 billion has also been allocated to eight Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) as part of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS), investing in a range of local transport initiatives, including bus and rail schemes. This funding is for 5 years from April 2022. In addition, £23m bus capacity funding was allocated to all LTAs in 2021/22 to support the development and delivery of their BSIPs and Enhanced Partnerships. A further £11m has been provided in 2022/23 for those LTAs that did not receive BSIP funding. The Government has also made available £2 billion since March 2020, through emergency and recovery grants, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the bus sector. A further £250 million is provided annually to bus operators and Local Transport Authorities through the Bus Service Operators Grant to support bus services. In 2022/23, the Department for Transport is providing funding of £113m in total to eight local or combined authorities to help them achieve their public transport objectives for rail.

Bus Services: Franchises

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to extend bus franchising to local authorities.

Mr Richard Holden: The Transport Act 2000 provides access to franchising powers for all Mayoral Combined Authorities in England. Non-mayoral combined authorities can also request access to franchising powers. They will need to satisfy the Secretary of State that they have the capability and resources to do so, and that it will better deliver service improvements for passengers.

Buses: Electric Vehicles

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on allocating remaining Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas funding for this financial year.

Mr Richard Holden: In this Parliament we have awarded £320m of dedicated funding for ZEBs in England (outside of London). £270m was allocated to 17 local transport authorities (LTAs) through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Area (ZEBRA) scheme, supporting up to 1,278 zero emission buses. The Department will provide details on how future funding will be used shortly, taking into account the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

Vehicle Number Plates: Fraud

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many incidents of car registration cloning were reported in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

Mr Richard Holden: If the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is notified of a suspected cloned vehicle investigations will be carried out and where appropriate, a replacement vehicle registration number will be issued. The table below shows the number of occasions where a member of the public contacted the DVLA about correspondence, fines or penalties they had received about vehicles they did not recognise or accept responsibility for. The table also shows the volume of replacement registration numbers issued.YearNumber of contacts to the DVLANumber of replacement registration numbers issued20207,40014320217,4346120227,769101 In these circumstances, suspected cloning is just one potential reason why someone might receive such correspondence. It is likely that a proportion of these cases will have been the result of an error on the part of an organisation or their customer when requesting vehicle keeper details. Where a vehicle keeper believes their vehicle or number plate has been cloned, the correct course of action is to report this to the police for further investigation. The DVLA may also pass on any intelligence gathered to the police, who are responsible for enforcement.

Railways: Disability

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has held with railway stakeholders on improving the accessibility of rail travel for disabled passengers.

Huw Merriman: The Department is committed to improving accessibility for all users of the rail network, including disabled passengers and those with additional needs. As such, my officials have regular dialogue with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) and other stakeholders about a range of accessibility issues to ensure that this ambition is realised.

High Speed 2 Line: Costs

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the estimated cost of HS2 was in January (a) 2013 and (b) 2023.

Huw Merriman: A cost estimate for the full HS2 programme was set out in the Outline Business Case published in 2013 and has since been updated regularly to take account of scope changes, improved cost projections and inflation. The last cost estimate for each phase of the programme was published in the six-monthly report to Parliament in October 2022, with the next report due to be published in the coming months.

High Speed 2 Line

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether (a) project silverlight and (b) Operation Blue Diamond will consider reducing platforms at Euston station.

Huw Merriman: The Government remains committed to delivering HS2 from Euston to Manchester. Project Silverlight and Project Blue Diamond are the titles of ongoing HS2 Ltd work to develop options with the Department for Transport on how the programme is delivered. As is good practice, requirements are kept under continuous review including the capacity of all stations on the route.

Transpennine Express Rail Franchise

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he held discussions with TransPennine express on the extension of the First TransPennine Express Limited 2021 rail contract on the 8 February 2023.

Huw Merriman: I am having weekly meetings with Rail North Partnership (RNP) officials to monitor TransPennine Express (TPE)’s performance and the Secretary of State and I met TPE’s managing director and the Managing Director of First Rail to discuss TPE’s service improvement plan.

Regional Airports

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with operators of regional airports on their viability.

Jesse Norman: Ministers and Officials at the Department for Transport regularly meet with individual operators and colleagues in the Devolved Administrations to discuss issues affecting regional airports.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many of the ships operating in the offshore wind sector are (a) registered or flagged in the UK and (b) registered and flagged abroad.

Mr Richard Holden: As of December 2021, there were 165 UK Registered (flagged) vessels operating in the offshore wind sector accounting for 236,000 Gross Tons (GT). It is important to note that these vessels all hold certification to operate in and around the North Sea and their owners and operators have contracts specifically in the Offshore Wind sector. The Government does not hold registration data for non-UK Flagged vessels specifically operating in the offshore wind sector.

Offshore Suppliers: North Sea

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many of the oil and gas support vessels operating in the North Sea are (a) registered or flagged in the UK and (b) registered or flagged abroad.

Mr Richard Holden: As of December 2021, there were 149 UK Registered (flagged) vessels operating in the Oil & Gas sector accounting for 657,000 Gross Tons (GT). It is important to note that these vessels all hold certification to operate in and around the North Sea and their owners and operators have contracts specifically in the Oil & Gas sector. The Government does not hold registration data for non-UK Flagged vessels specifically operating in the oil and gas sector.

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made to date with Operation Zero and its target of delivering zero emission vessels in the offshore wind supply chain by 2025.

Mr Richard Holden: The Operation Zero implementation plan was launched in Grimsby in October 2022 with attendance from signatories from across the offshore wind sector and government officials. At this event the steering board and working groups for the initiative were formed. The first meeting of the steering board is scheduled for April this year with the working groups meeting in March. My department has been engaging with relevant teams across government to progress this work.

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy of the rolling stock pipeline for the UK rail industry and (b) potential impact of a production gap on the viability of factories in the UK.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of potential rolling stock production gaps on (a) employment and (b) local economies in the North East.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic benefits of additional funding in rolling stock for (a) North West passengers, (b) the UK economy and (c) the manufacturing industry in the North East of England.

Huw Merriman: The Government recognises the importance the rolling stock supply chain has on the both the national and local economies. It is manufacturers themselves that are responsible for exploring opportunities to supply new trains for both export and domestic markets and they must ensure that they exploit the global reach and expertise within UK manufacturing facilities. Since 2010, over 5,300 vehicles ordered by train operators in the UK have been assembled at manufacturing facilities across the country, reflecting in the region of around £10.6bn on orders for rolling stock built in the UK since 2010.This includes the recent £2 billion HS2 rolling stock order for the next generation of Britain’s high-speed trains which will benefit passengers in the North West and be built in Derby, Crewe and County Durham. Whilst over one-third of the UK fleet has been renewed since 2010, the supply chain must continue to consider further opportunities around the remainder of the fleet, such as refurbishment or upgrades, that represent real long-term value to taxpayers.

House of Commons Commission

Cybercrime and Espionage

Catherine West: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, whether the Commission has had recent discussion with the Home Office on the potential (a) cyber and (b) espionage threat from hostile state actors.

Sir Charles Walker: House officials regularly meet with the Home Office and related agencies to discuss a wide range of security matters including threats.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Protocol

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress the Government has made on discussions on checks on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Mr Steve Baker: The Government is engaging in constructive dialogue with the EU to find solutions to the problems with the Protocol. The Government does not give a running commentary on these discussions.

Attorney General

Barristers: Fees and Charges

Afzal Khan: To ask the Attorney General, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of the increase in fees for prosecution barristers acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service; and whether her Department has made an impact of assessment of this decision.

Michael Tomlinson: The estimated annual cost to keep parity between the prosecution and defence schemes will be around £30 million. The Crown Prosecution Service have modelled where the changes to the scheme need to be made and have been in liaison with the Bar Council.

Department of Health and Social Care

Hospitals: Construction

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total cost to the public purse of legal advice for the New Hospitals Programme was in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2020-21.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Drugs: Research

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the UK's share of the global pharmaceutical research and development market.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to use (a) vaccination and (b) other treatments, including antivirals amongst vulnerable groups in winter 2023.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Psychiatric Hospitals: Admissions

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data does his Department holds on the number of people with mental health needs held in long-stay inpatient hospitals.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Orthopaedics: Surgery

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the economic impacts of delays in orthopaedic surgery and the impact of those delays on people living with arthritis.

Will Quince: No assessment has been made.

Department of Health and Social Care: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

Will Quince: The Department complies with section 181 through our Partnership Agreement with our recognised trade unions. This sets out that disclosure of information for collective bargaining purposes will be in accordance with the ACAS Code of Practice for Disclosure of Information and the provisions of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Department of Health and Social Care: Treasury

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many meetings he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer since 25 October 2022.

Will Quince: My Rt hon. friend, the Secretary of State, meets regularly with other Cabinet colleagues.

NHS: Productivity

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 December to Question 89697 on NHS: Productivity, in what way the publication of information about NHSE productivity available to the National Audit Office could prejudice the conduct of public affairs.

Will Quince: This report is currently being used by National Audit office and NHS England to inform internal policy for public services. To share this information would inhibit the open, free and frank discussions that are being had on these internal policies.

Ambulance Services: Driving

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulance drivers were employed by NHS trusts in England in each of the past five years.

Will Quince: The data requested is not held centrally.

Ambulance Services: Staff

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulance workers were employed by NHS trusts in England in each of the past five years.

Will Quince: The table below shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) ambulance workers in the National Health Service provider trusts and commissioning bodies in England. Nov 2018Nov 2019Nov 2020Nov 2021Nov 2022Ambulance Workers (FTE)37,06339,28842,07243,02643,818Source: NHS Digital Workforce StatisticsNote: Ambulance workers have been defined as all professionally qualified clinical ambulance staff and those providing support to clinical ambulance staff.

NHS: Staff

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what was the total amount spent on HR by the NHS in England in each of the past five years.

Will Quince: This information is not held centrally and will be held locally by individual National Health Service bodies.

NHS Trusts: Pagers

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the total number of pagers held by the NHS trusts in England.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pagers were bought by NHS trusts in England in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the total amount spent by NHS trusts in England on pagers in each of the past 5 years for which data is available.

Will Quince: The information requested is not held centrally.

Continuing Care: Appeals

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the average length of time taken to process Continuing Healthcare appeals in England for every year for which data is available since 2017.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding was dispensed as part of Continuing Healthcare appeals in England for every year for which data is available since 2017.

Helen Whately: We do not collect data on the length of time taken to process NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) appeals, nor on the expenditure related to CHC appeals. Appeals for CHC follow a three-stage process which ensures that the correct eligibility decision on CHC has been reached. The first stage is for an individual to ask for a local review at integrated care board (ICB) level, followed by a second stage review by an NHS England Independent Review Panel if requested. The final stage is a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. We have interpreted 'continuing healthcare appeals' as a request for a local review, or an Independent Review of a CHC eligibility decision. NHS England only collect and publish data on the annual number of ICB Local Resolution requests, and their outcomes, but not the length of time taken to process the appeals. NHS England collect Independent Review data for internal reporting and management purposes only. CHC spend data is also collected by NHS England, but not at the granular level requested.

Autism and Learning Disability

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England has spent on inpatient care for people with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism (i) in total, (ii) by direct commissioning and (iii) by Integrated Care Boards in the last 12 months.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not held in the format requested. However, NHS England does hold the following information regarding spending on inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people. On mental health inpatient care in 2021/22, specialised commissioning spent £125 million for people with a learning disability, and £22 million for autistic people.NHS England did not collect what Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), the predecessor organisations to integrated care boards (ICBs), spent specifically on inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people for 2021/22. It was the responsibility of CCGs to commission appropriate services for their population and to make their own decisions about spend on inpatient and community care, with the responsibly being with ICBs following their formation on 1 July 2022. However, in total, in 2021/22 CCGs spent £2.1 billion on care for people with a learning disability and autistic people.

Long Covid: Research

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask  the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing additional funding for UK-based bioscientific research into (a) the causes and (b) treatment of Long Covid.

Maria Caulfield: The role of research and scientific evidence is pivotal in shaping our understanding of post COVID-19 syndrome and how it affects people. The National Health Service and wider scientific community are working at an unprecedented pace to better understand COVID-19 and the long-term health impacts it may have, and how best to treat and support those affected.Over £50 million has already been invested in the long term effects of COVID-19 infection research projects to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care.The National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation’s Medical Research Council continue to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including post COVID-19 syndrome. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the topic’s importance to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will continue to monitor the emergence of new evidence around the treatment of post COVID-19 syndrome and update guidance to reflect this.

Contraceptives

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Public Health England's report entitled Extending Public Health England’s contraception return on investment tool: Maternity and primary care settings, published in July 2021, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that every £1 invested in long-acting reversible contraception in primary care provides a return on investment of £48 over ten years; and when his Department plans to update that modelling.

Neil O'Brien: No formal assessment has been made and we have no current plans to update the modelling. However, the Government recognises the significant return on investment on publicly funded contraception and we are committed to ensuring the public receive the best possible contraceptive services. We continue to provide funding for these essential services through the GP Contract and Public Health Grant.

Tobacco

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2022 to Question 37602 on Electronic Cigarettes: Advertising, when he plans to publish the Tobacco Control Plan.

Neil O'Brien: We are considering the recommendations made in ‘The Khan review: making smoking obsolete’ and further information will be available in due course.

Hospitals: Food

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2022 to Question 101788 on Hospitals: Food and MDDUS’ press release of 10 November 2022 on access to food, if he will require all NHS Trusts to issue guidance to staff on out-of-hours food arrangements for employees by 28 February 2023.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2022 to Question 101788 on hospitals food and MDDUS’ junior doctor survey published on 10 November 2022, if he will make it his policy to mandate minimum standards of availability and access to out-of-hours food for NHS staff.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England will be closely monitoring implementation of the updated NHS national standards for food and drink, and we expect all Trusts to deliver against these standards as soon as possible. This includes 24/7 access to food.Trusts will be asked to self-declare their implementation status of the national standards for food and drink within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, including self-declaration through the NHS Premises Assurance Model (NHS PAM) and through assessment by local people through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) from late 2023. Trusts are also encouraged to provide updates on compliance with the standards in their Annual Reports.The Health and Care Act 2022 gives the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to introduce secondary legislation mandating the national food and drink standards in the NHS. The government will not hesitate to use this power if needed.

Alcoholism and Drugs: Rehabilitation

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled £53 million cash boost to improve housing support for drug and alcohol recovery, published on 3 February 2023, what metrics were used for the allocation of funding to improve housing support for drug and alcohol recovery.

Neil O'Brien: The Housing Support Grant is a limited fund with the aim of building evidence on what works in a targeted number of Local Authorities. The 28 upper-tier local authorities eligible for funding were selected using a formula-based methodology agreed between the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This was based primarily on local authorities with the highest levels of housing-related need amongst people in substance misuse treatment, according to data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the UK's genomic sequencing capabilities to prepare for a future pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: Alongside the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) COVID-19 genomic sequencing and analysis, the organisation continues to maintain and develop genomic sequencing for gastrointestinal pathogens, tuberculosis, polio and monkeypox. UKHSA will continue to develop a pathogen genomics programme with available resources, to transform and enable wider pathogen analysis and, integration with clinical and public health data analysis to ensure that we are able to detect new, and emerging threats to protect the population and health services.UKHSA is already engaged in some important global partnerships to ensure we have strong surveillance systems in place. We work with the World Health Organization, the Wellcome Trust and with other public health agencies, and we are supporting the development of a network of hubs to increase surveillance and enhance genomic analysis and awareness. This builds on the success of UKHSA’s New Variant Assessment Platform set up during the pandemic and now working in 14 countries and with six regional collaborators to improve early detection of COVID variants and pathogens of pandemic potential. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-variant-assessment-platform#overview

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve surveillance and reporting systems for future viruses.

Maria Caulfield: We are working to strengthen global surveillance through a range of initiatives. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is conducting a discovery phase for the National Biosurveillance Network to understand the capabilities across Government, where the gaps are, and how we fill them to improve existing biosurveillance.UKHSA continues to deploy genomic sequencing capability around the world through our New Variant Assessment Platform, alongside participating in global initiatives such as the International Pathogen Surveillance Network. UKHSA also continues to scope and explore the development of wastewater surveillance.

Disease Control: Disinformation

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to fight misinformation to prepare for a future pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency worked closely with public health and science experts during COVID-19 to ensure transparency and that the science behind advice is shared. Communication plans and countering misinformation will form a key part of pandemic preparedness.We continue to monitor misinformation and disinformation that forms a barrier to the uptake of vaccinations, disruption to access, drivers of low uptake and public health measures in both on and offline forums. We also liaise with the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to share reports and horizon scan for incoming threats and issues as part of our business-as-usual activity and ongoing disease surveillance and emergency preparedness.

Disease Control: Protective Clothing

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to stockpile PPE for a future pandemic.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to invest in vaccines for a future pandemic.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to invest in antivirals for a future pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. These clinical countermeasures include personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene consumables, vaccines (including an Advance Purchase Agreement to guarantee access to a pandemic specific influenza vaccine), and therapeutics, such as antivirals. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks.In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research and development and manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, which will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and have the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic.

Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the availability and use of data to prepare for a future pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is utilising strong surveillance capabilities, rooted in the highest-quality data systems, data architecture and analytics to anticipate, prepare for and respond to health risks. UKHSA will exploit the potential of new techniques and technologies across a range of disciplines.We are continuously updating our pandemic plans to reflect the latest scientific information and lessons learned from exercises and our response to emergencies, including COVID-19.

Strokes: Health Services

Sir Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve access to stroke rehabilitation after discharge from hospital when discharge funding for step down care ends on 31st March 2023.

Helen Whately: NHS England have invested in the Stroke Quality Improvement in Rehabilitation (Squire) programme. Regional Squire managers in collaboration with integrated stroke delivery networks and newly formed integrated care boards are working to improve access to community-based stroke rehabilitation The Government is making available up to £1.6 billion of additional funding to reduce delayed discharges in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This is on top of the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund already announced for 2022/23. NHS England recommends that stroke survivors access specialist community-based stroke rehabilitation services, which facilitate transfer of care from hospital to home and provide specialist rehabilitation in their home or place of residence.

Cancer: Health Services

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take through the Major Conditions Strategy to help reduce waiting times for cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment.

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will tackle waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment in Manchester, Withington constituency.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will cover the cancer patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care, and set out the standards patients should expect in the short term and over a five year timeframe.

Insomnia: Mental Health Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have completed a course of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in the last year.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the use of cognitive behavioural therapy to help treat chronic adult insomnia.

Helen Whately: Information on the number of people completing a course of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia is not collected centrally. The Department has not made any recent assessment.

Hospitals: Discharges

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the most common reasons for delayed discharges of patients who no longer meet the criteria to reside in hospital.

Helen Whately: Reasons for delayed discharge include hospital process delays and patients awaiting the start of home-based care, residential, nursing home or intermediate care placements.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust: Mental Health Services

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of the new discharge funding announced on 9 January 2022 that will be spent on mental health services in Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

Helen Whately: On 9 January, the government announced up to £200 million funding for step down care. Of this the North East and North Cumbria ICB has been allocated a capped budget of over £11 million. Information on the use of this funding within the integrated care board is not available publicly.

Cancer: Manchester Withington

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting times for cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment in Manchester Withington constituency.

Helen Whately: To support elective recovery and reduce waiting times, including in cancer care, the Government worked with NHS England to publish the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care in February 2022. To deliver this plan, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.Diagnostics are a crucial part of cancer pathways. The Government awarded £2.3 billion at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years. As part of this investment, up to 160 new Community Diagnostic Centres will deliver additional diagnostic capacity in England.

Social Services: Finance

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £200 million discharge fund, announced in January 2023, how his Department plans to measure the number of people who receive a care and support plan, including rehabilitation.

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £200 million discharge fund, announced in January 2023, how his Department plans to measure the number of days between receiving a care and support plan and delivery of the rehabilitation required.

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £200 million discharge fund, announced in January 2023, how his Department plans to measure the number of hospital 30-day readmissions for people (a) receiving wrap around rehabilitation or reablement support and (b) who do not receive wrap around rehabilitation or reablement support.

Helen Whately: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to report on the additional capacity purchased by the £200 million fund for step down care and put in place appropriate oversight processes to ensure capacity purchased is being utilised. NHS England have published guidance for the £200 million fund, including what ICBs have been asked to report on through a daily sitrep which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/PRN00124-ii-Hospital-discharge-fund-guidance.pdfNationally, the oversight of capacity purchased through the £200 million fund is monitored daily through The National Strategic Oversight and Delivery Group with regions, and weekly at the Discharge Improvement Board which is attended by regional discharge leads.

Integrated Care Boards: Palliative Care

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of commissioning for palliative care by integrated care boards; and if he will make further such assessments in future.

Helen Whately: No specific assessment has been made and there are no current plans to make one.As part of the Health and Care Act 2022, palliative care services were specifically added to the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, with NHS England publishing statutory guidance to support commissioners with this duty. The guidance sets out the core components for commissioning and provides a framework for each ICB to evaluate commissioning and delivery of their palliative and end of life care services.

Insomnia: Productivity

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the impact of insomnia on the level of economic productivity.

Helen Whately: We have no current plans to make a specific estimate.

Food: Hygiene

Wendy Morton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to consult and legislate on the proposed mandatory display of food hygiene ratings in England on consumers.

Neil O'Brien: The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA has not made a recent assessment. However, evidence from Wales and Northern Ireland demonstrates that mandatory display has improved transparency, which encourages businesses to achieve better levels of compliance with hygiene requirements.This is therefore a long-standing ambition of the FSA, and the FSA will continue to explore opportunities to progress a statutory scheme with the Department which would sponsor the legislation. In the meantime, the FSA is working hard with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.

Occupational Therapy: Training

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department is providing to occupational therapists who did not receive an NHS Bursary.

Will Quince: In 2017, healthcare students were moved onto the standard student finance system. Students were eligible for tuition fee loans, maintenance loans and further grants and support. This allowed them to access more living costs support whilst studying compared to the previous system. Repayments are unlike commercial loans, with built-in unique protections for borrowers.Since 2020, eligible healthcare students have had access to non-repayable grants worth £5,000 per academic year. Students can also access a further £1,000 for certain specialist subjects, £2,000 for childcare, plus additional funding for travel and accommodation costs, as well as access to a hardship fund.

Electronic Cigarettes: Children

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to discourage underage vaping.

Neil O'Brien: The Government is clear that vaping should only be used to help people quit smoking, vapes should not be used by people under 18 years old or non-smokers.We have some of the strongest regulations in place to discourage underage vaping. The law protects children through restricting sales of vapes to over 18 years old only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions.We have recently updated information and advice on the Better Health and Talk to Frank websites to raise awareness of the risks of vaping to children.

Electronic Cigarettes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to prevent non-smokers from starting to use vapes.

Neil O'Brien: The Government is clear that vaping should only be used to help people quit smoking and we will continue to take steps to prevent children and non-smokers from starting.We have a strongly regulated vape market in the United Kingdom to prevent non-smokers from using vapes. This includes restricting sales to over 18 years old only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and thorough advertising restrictions.

Long Covid

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people in the UK under the age of 40 who have been diagnosed with Long Covid.

Maria Caulfield: No specific estimate has been made. The Department uses estimates provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the prevalence of ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom. Estimates are based on the self-reporting of ongoing symptoms by study participants rather than a clinical diagnosis. It is not possible to provide ONS estimates in the age group requested.

Health Services: Females

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February to Question 138030, when he plans to launch the women’s health area on the NHS website.

Maria Caulfield: We aim to launch the women’s health area on the National Health Service website before Summer Recess.

Mental Health Services

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to expand existing Government (a) schemes and (b) incentives such as salary sacrifice or employment assistance programmes in order to make (i) psychotherapy and (ii) other mental health support services more affordable.

Maria Caulfield: The Government already supports employers to provide a number of health and wellbeing initiatives for their employees which are tax exempt. This includes up to £500 towards recommended medical treatments to help employees return to work, as well as eye tests, annual health checks and welfare counselling. In March 2020 this was expanded, to include under the exemption for welfare counselling, counselling services which are also medical treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Interpersonal Therapy. The Government keeps all taxes under review.

Menopause: Health Services

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to help support women experiencing peri-menopausal and menopausal symptoms.

Maria Caulfield: The menopause is a priority area within the Women’s Health Strategy, and the Government and National Health Service are implementing an ambitious programme of work to improve menopause care so all women can access the support they need.The NHS Menopause Pathway Improvement Programme is working to improve clinical menopause care in England and reduce disparities in access to treatment. The NHS is also developing an education and training package on menopause for healthcare professionals.The Government is implementing a bespoke hormone replacement therapy (HRT) pre-payment certificate to reduce the cost of HRT prescriptions for menopausal women from April 2023, subject to the necessary consultation with professional bodies which is ongoing.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to learn from best practice used during (a) the Covid-19 vaccination programme and (b) the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maria Caulfield: The United Kingdom’s vaccination programme, from research and development of vaccines against COVID-19 to the deployment to over 93% of the adult population aged 12 years old and over (as of 7 June 2022), has been one of the most successful and effective initiatives in the history of UK science and public administration. The Government is taking steps to learn from the best practice used during this programme. The Centre for Pandemic Preparedness within the UK Health Security Agency is working with partners in Government, academia and industry to understand the findings from evaluation of COVID-19 policies and exercises to identify lessons we can learn from for future incidents. We will also review the evidence base underpinning different policies and identify gaps.

Haemophilia

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve outcomes for people affected by haemophilia.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England commissions a range of different products to manage Haemophilia A and B and other inherited bleeding disorders. NHS England also requires that all major service providers participate in the regular national Peer Review Audit of Haemophilia services.NHS England collects some limited service data through the Haemophilia Services Dashboard. NHS England commissions the National Haemophilia Database (NHD) to collect a range of clinical outcomes relating to patients with bleeding disorders. The NHD is also able to infer clinical differences between treatments and treatment strategies and this information has been shared with commissioners to inform future commissioning decisions.In 2023/24 the Specialised Blood Disorders Clinical Reference Group will be making use of the information collected through the dashboard and database to inform a review of the NHS England Service Specification for Haemophilia. The review will specifically address the potential for an increased role for non-medical, non-nursing roles in Haemophilia/Blood Disorders, including physiotherapy, psychology, to improve outcomes for patients.

Period Poverty

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle period poverty.

Maria Caulfield: This Government takes the issue of period poverty very seriously and we are already taking steps to ensure that period products are available and affordable for those most in need. Since January 2020, a Department for Education scheme provides free period products in schools and 16 to 19 education institutions in England. 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 organisations and 68% of primary schools have made at least one order since the scheme began in January 2020.In March 2019 NHS England announced that it would offer period products to every hospital patient who needs them, including long-term in-patients. As part of our wider strategy to make period products affordable and available for all women, we have also made it clear that a zero rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) applies to period products now that the United Kingdom has left the European Union. These products are essential, so it is right that there is now no VAT charge.

Nurses: Pay Settlements

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to offer a higher pay award for nurses in 2022-23 than that recommended by the NHS Pay Review Body in its Thirty-Fifth Report, published in July 2022.

Will Quince: The Government accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in full for the 2022/23 financial year and have given over 1 million non-medical National Health Service workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 (pro-rated) this financial year. That’s the equivalent of around 4 to 5% pay rises for most nurses. This is on top of a 3% pay rise the previous year when most public sector pay was frozen and wider Government support to help with the cost of living.The Government is focused on the current pay review process which will determine awards for 2023/24, but we also recognise that these are challenging times for everyone, caused by global economic factors. We want to strike the right balance between what is fair for public sector workers and what the taxpayer can afford.

Plastics: Health Hazards

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a fund for research into the potential impact of plastic on human health.

Will Quince: No further assessment has been made. The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR funds research for the protection of public health from environmental hazards and to understand the complex role of the environment on disease development.The NIHR is funding research on microplastic toxicity in humans through the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Exposures and Health, which is a partnership between Imperial College London and the UK Health Security Agency. This work will be reported in peer reviewed academic journals in due course.

Insomnia: Mental Health Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on the waiting list to be treated with sleepio.

Neil O'Brien: Sleepio is not an application that is currently provided centrally by the National Health Service and there is no national waiting list. Sleepio may be commissioned by local organisations.

Obesity

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 137874 on Obesity, what steps he is taking to reduce obesity levels in adults.

Neil O'Brien: The measures we are delivering will have an impact on reducing obesity across all age groups.

Mental Health Services: Children

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase access to children’s mental health services in Warwick and Leamington constituency.

Maria Caulfield: We are expanding and transforming mental health services, including in the Warwick and Leamington constituency, through the NHS Long Term Plan. The plan commits to increasing investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24, so that an additional two million people, including 345,000 children and young people, are able to access National Health Service funded mental health support.We also provided an additional £79 million for 2021/22 to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services.This includes rolling out mental health support teams to schools and colleges across England. There are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issue. Mental health support teams now cover 26% of pupils a year earlier than originally planned and this will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils, by April 2023, with over 500 planned to be up and running by 2024.Eight teams are in place or planned in the Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System area.

Arthritis: Surgery

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with arthritis in Huddersfield constituency have been waiting for orthopaedic surgery for (a) 12, (b) 18 and (c) 24 months.

Will Quince: The information requested is not held centrally.

Dental Services: Staff

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent forecast of the number of (i) Dental Nurses, (ii) Dental Hygienists, (iii) Dental Technicians, (iv) Clinical Dental Technicians, (v) Orthodontic Therapists and (vi) Dental Therapists who will be working in the NHS in 5 years' time based on numbers entering the sector.

Neil O'Brien: No recent forecast has been made. The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan this spring, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity.

Nurses: Students

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to help support student nurses.

Will Quince: The Student Loans Company provides the primary funding support package for students in further education. Student loan repayments are unlike commercial loans, with built-in protections, including repayments linked to income and not based on interest rates or the amount borrowed, and with outstanding loan amounts written off after 30 years. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, this is a conscious investment in the skills and people of this country.In addition to this, eligible nursing students have access to supplementary funding support via the NHS Learning Support Fund, which offers a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year plus additional grants and supports depending on their circumstances.

Prescription Drugs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 2 August 2022 to Question 39893 on Prescription Drugs: Addictions, if his Department will issue guidance for patients on tapering the dosage of prescription medicines to reduce the likelihood of an adverse event or withdrawal symptoms.

Neil O'Brien: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults includes information for both health professionals and patients on the safe withdrawal from medicines. The Department has no plans to issue separate guidance for patients.

Autism: Health Services

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce waiting lists for autism assessments in England.

Maria Caulfield: We expect integrated care boards to have due regard to relevant best practice guidelines when commissioning services, including for autism assessments. The waiting time standard recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is for a maximum waiting time of 13 weeks between a referral for an autism assessment and a first appointment.NHS England are developing a national framework to set out the process of how children, young people and adults might receive a diagnostic assessment of autism. The aim of this work is to improve access to and the quality of these diagnostic processes and reduce waiting times. The framework will be published in due course.Building on the 2021/22 investment of £13 million, through the NHS Long Term Plan and COVID-19 Mental Health Recovery Plan, we are investing £2.5 million in 2022/23 to support local areas with improvements in autism assessment pathways.We are also investing £600,000 into expanding an autism early identification pilot to at least a hundred schools in the Bradford area over five years. This programme will help with the early identification of neurodivergent children.

Continuing Care

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects to publish the Long Term Conditions Strategy.

Helen Whately: There is no plan to publish a Long Term Conditions Strategy. As announced on 24 January, the Department will develop and publish a Major Conditions Strategy. The Strategy will tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England: cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions. The approach of the strategy will harness the potential of whole person care, reflecting that the National Health Service is caring for patients with increasingly complex needs and with multiple long-term conditions. An interim report will be published in the summer.

Autism

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he will publish the Autism Strategy Implementation Plan for 2022-23.

Maria Caulfield: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt hon. Member for South Swindon on the 3 February 2023 to Question 135349.

NHS: Pay

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing pensionable status from NHS responsibility payments when secondments are short term.

Will Quince: Additional responsibility payments such as those for clinical and medical directors are not covered by national contracts. A permanent pay increase for additional responsibilities would typically form part of a member’s pensionable pay and a temporary or short term increase would not. This is a matter for employers to consider when offering the payment. Pay arrangements in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government.NHS Employers have published guidance on the local options available to employers in England, which can be put in place to support staff who are affected by pension tax.

School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure that all fruit provided to children in state schools through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme has Fairtrade accreditation.

Neil O'Brien: Suppliers of fruit and vegetables to the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme are required to adhere to all elements of United Kingdom law. They are required to supply produce which meets Government fresh fruit and vegetable marketing standards, and the standards set for the Red Tractor food assurance scheme for UK sourced foods, or Globalgap, the international equivalent for fruit and vegetables sourced from outside the UK.An assessment of relevant accreditation programmes such as Fairtrade is undertaken as part of the procurement process to source the fruit, vegetables and related services for the Scheme. The current supply frameworks will run until the end of July 2024, and the merits of using a range of potential accreditations, including Fairtrade, will be considered as part of the next procurement.

Medical Treatments: Innovation

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help streamline processes for future medical innovations so they are available in similar timeframes to covid-19 treatments.

Will Quince: The Government is committed to supporting timely patient access to promising and innovative new treatments. Our Life Science Vision published in 2021 set out our ambition to build on the scientific successes and ways of working from COVID-19 to tackle the biggest disease challenges.The United Kingdom’s participation in Project Orbis and the creation of the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) are already enabling the more rapid review and approval of promising new medicines. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is introducing a more proportionate approach to appraisals that will create more flexibility in its medicine evaluation processes and speed up access for patients.

Ambulance Services: Vacancies

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many vacancies there were in NHS ambulance trusts in England in each of the last five years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) vacancies in National Health Service ambulance trusts in England since September 2018.  September 2018September 2019September 2020September 2021September 2022Number of FTE Vacancies2,8462,0119901,7493,334 Source: NHS Digital, Vacancy Statistics

Prescription Drugs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether consideration was given to including guidance on (a) withdrawal from prescription drugs and (b) support for those withdrawing from prescription drugs in the (i) Structured medication reviews and medicines optimisation: guidance, published on 17 September 2020 and (ii) Good for you, good for us, good for everybody - A plan to reduce overprescribing to make patient care better and safer, support the NHS, and reduce carbon emissions, published on 22 September 2021.

Will Quince: The Structured medication reviews and medicines optimisation guidance sets out implementation guidance for primary care networks (PCNs), including the principles of undertaking a structured medication review (SMR). The guidance provides approaches for health professionals to take when reviewing patients with complex and problematic polypharmacy, specifically those on 10 or more medications. This is not clinical guidance so does not provide detailed information about how medicines are to be withdrawn or stopped.Any decision to withdraw a medicine would be carried out on an individual basis based on the patient’s individual clinical conditions, the medicines they are taking and their own values and preferences following a shared conversation between the patient and the prescriber.In December 2018 the Government commissioned Dr Keith Ridge, the then Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to lead a review into the use of medication and overprescribing, the outcome of this was published as ‘Good for you, good for us, good for everybody’. Some of the recommendations in the report are relevant to withdrawal from prescription drugs, including the expansion of Structured Medication Reviews across the National Health Service but do not specifically outline a recommendation to provide guidance on withdrawing prescription medicines.

Strokes

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to incorporate the (a) national stroke service model and (b) integrated community stroke service model within the integrated urgent and emergency care workforce plans.

Helen Whately: Workforce planning to meet appropriate care quality standards is a matter for the National Health Service.We have commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will look at the mix and number of staff across all parts of the country and will set out the actions and reforms that will be needed to reduce supply gaps and improve retention.

Coronavirus: Mortality Rates

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to analyse the Office for National Statistics data on excess deaths from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to the end of 2022 across all age groups.

Neil O'Brien: Analysts at the department have reviewed the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on excess deaths every week since the start of the pandemic. There are a range of different organisations producing different estimates of excess deaths based on different methodologies. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) within the department analyses the same source data as ONS to produce and publish its own estimates. Using an alternative methodology to the ONS estimates, OHID analysis provides further breakdowns of excess deaths, including by age group, ethnic group, level of deprivation and cause of death.Analysts at ONS and OHID meet regularly to discuss the analysis produced by both organisations, including the methods used and any issues which may affect the quality or accuracy of the mortality data.

Dental Services: Enfield Southgate

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the availability of NHS dentists in Enfield Southgate constituency.

Neil O'Brien: NHS England is responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population. Many of the dentistry commissioning functions undertaken by NHS England will transfer to integrated care boards (ICBs) from April 2023. ICBs will be responsible for meeting the needs of their local population of all ages, working with patient groups. NHS England has made available to commissioners an Assurance Framework to provide assurances on commissioning.In circumstances where a patient is unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through a National Health Service dental practice, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which sets out how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to NHS dental care whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. These changes have been implemented, including through regulations that came into effect on 25 November 2022.NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023.

Long Covid: Young People

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the research briefing published on 29 January 2023 by the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities study on the impact of long Covid among those from less socio-economically advantaged backgrounds, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on tackling long term inequalities for young people.

Maria Caulfield: There have been no specific discussions.

Mental Health: Young People

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to improve mental health among people under the age of 25 claiming Personal Independence Payment.

Maria Caulfield: We are committed to increasing investment into expanding and transforming mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people, including those under 25 claiming personal independence payment, can get the National Health Service funded mental health support they need.

Restraint Techniques: Children

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the use of restraint on children in hospital settings.

Maria Caulfield: Table 17 of the Mental Health Bulletin: 2021-22 England Inpatients Reference Tables document, published as part of the Mental Health Bulletin, 2021-22 Annual report, provides data on uses of restrictive intervention by age and type of restraint. The document is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-bulletin/2021-22-annual-reportDue regard should be given to the explanatory notes contained in that document and relevant tabs.

Paramedical Staff

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many paramedics were employed by NHS trusts in each of the past five years.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) paramedics working in the National Health Service provider trusts and commissioning bodies for the past five years. October 2018October 2019October 2020October 2021October 2022Number of FTE paramedics15,39316,48117,49418,01818,364 Source: NHS Digital Monthly Workforce Statistics

Cervical Cancer: Ealing Central and Acton

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve diagnosis times for cervical cancer in Ealing Central and Acton constituency.

Helen Whately: Improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including cervical cancer, is a priority across England. One of the core ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan is to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, and to ensure that by 2028, an additional 55,000 people will survive their cancer for five years or more. A Best Practice Timed Pathway for gynaecological cancers, including cervical, has been produced by NHS England, and will be delivered through Cancer Alliances. The pathway will support the delivery of a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days, in line with the recently introduced Faster Diagnosis Standard. This pathway aims to implement rapid patient triage so they can access the right tests, first time, using appropriately staffed one-stop clinics. This work is supported by the £2.3 billion investment announced at the 2021 Spending Review, that will transform diagnostic services over the next three years including in the Ealing Central and Acton constituency. Most of this investment will help increase the number of Community Diagnostic Centres up to 160 by March 2025, expanding and protecting elective planned diagnostic services.

NHS: Integrated Care Boards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of prioritising the clearing of NHS backlogs on delivering (a) long-term integrated care board priorities and (b) the autonomy of those boards.

Will Quince: NHS England is working with integrated care boards on their priorities, and this includes clearing elective backlogs.The Hewitt Review is considering how the oversight and governance of integrated care systems can best enable them to succeed, balancing greater autonomy with robust accountability.

Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timetable is for (a) scoping and (b) publishing the Major Conditions Strategy.

Helen Whately: The Government will be working with stakeholders in the coming weeks on development of the strategy and an interim report will be published in the summer.

Members: Correspondence

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 12 December 2022 from the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton on opt-out HIV testing.

Neil O'Brien: I replied to the hon. Member on 12 January 2023.

Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to develop a strategy supporting (a) research on, (b) treatment advances for and (c) management of conditions that are not covered under the Major Conditions Strategy.

Helen Whately: The strategy’s focus is on tackling conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England including cancers, cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions.In addition to the strategy, the Department will continue work to improve the treatment and care people receive for all other conditions through work such as the ME/CFS Delivery Plan, the Women’s Health Strategy and the Acquired Brain Injury strategy.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2022 to Question 99933 on Mental Health Services: Children and Young People, when he plans to take a decision on the potential introduction of a new waiting time standard that children, young people and their families and carers presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive care within four weeks of referral; what estimate he has made of the level of any additional children and adolescent mental health service workforce that would be required to meet that new waiting time standard; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Caulfield: The Department and NHS England are working to establish the feasibility and associated risks of introducing new mental health waiting time standards, including one for children and young people’s community-based mental health services. As a first step, NHS England has shared and promoted guidance with its local system partners to consistently report waiting times to support the development of a baseline position.

Integrated Care Boards: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to provide multi-year funding settlements for integrated care boards to help ensure longer-term investment in services.

Helen Whately: NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards. Allocations for 2023/24 and 2024/25 were published on 27 January. As per usual practice for Government departments and their arm's length bodies, future National Health Service funding will be determined at future Spending Reviews.

Dementia: Diagnosis

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plan to take to improve dementia diagnosis rates.

Helen Whately: In December 2022, the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7% was included in the NHS priorities and operational planning guidance as part of the refined mental health objectives for 2023/24. This reinforces the importance of dementia as a key priority for NHS England and provides a clear direction for integrated care boards to support delivery of timely diagnoses within systems.

Medical Devices Regulations 2002

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Retained EU Law Bill, whether he plans to (a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the Medical Devices Regulations 2002.

Neil O'Brien: Through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union (EU) law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. The Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to ensure that any such reforms maintain current standards in patient safety and public health. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is participating in the review of all retained EU law within its responsibilities. In parallel, we are progressing reforms to the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 under the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021. These are outlined in the government response to the consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in the United Kingdom published in June last year.

Autism: Health Services

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the Autism strategy implementation plan for the 2022-23 financial year.

Maria Caulfield: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt hon. Member for South Swindon on the 3 February 2023 to Question 135349.

Hospitals: Sutton

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on signing off the Full Business Case for the development of a new hospital in the London Borough of Sutton.

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2022 to Question 8181 on Hospitals: Sutton, what progress the Government has made on the formation of a detailed timetable for the delivery of a new hospital in the London Borough of Sutton.

Will Quince: All business cases are required to follow the proper processes for effective appraisal including ensuring value for money. The scheme for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust is currently at Outline Business Case stage. Once approved the trust will begin work on its Full Business Case.Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has already received £20.5 million in funding for its new hospital scheme. The scheme is part of the Pathfinder cohort, which are the first of the larger and more complex schemes to be taken forward aligned, with the national programme approach. The cohort grouping of schemes is based on readiness to progress and the extent to which schemes can realise the benefits of a national programmatic approach.

Autism: Databases

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to implement an autism dashboard that would show the number of people waiting for an Autism diagnosis; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England publish the Autism Diagnostic Waiting Times Statistics, including an interactive dashboard, that shows the number of people waiting for an autism assessment. The NHS England Learning Disability and Autism programme team are working to support data quality improvements engaging with regional colleagues and system providers.Based on the latest available data in the Mental Health Data Set, published in December 2022, the total number of people with an open referral for an autism assessment was 125,109 in July 2022. Of these patients, 105,622 patients have been waiting for at least 13 weeks.

Mental Health Services: Low Incomes

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to extend support for low- and middle income earners who rely on private counselling or therapy in the context of the rising cost of living.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to (a) psychotherapy and (b) other long-term mental health support for low and middle-income earners affected by rises in the cost of living.

Maria Caulfield: We continue to drive progress on delivering the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan to enhance the availability of National Health Service funded and commissioned mental health support and transformation of mental health services. Through the Long Term Plan, an additional two million people will be able to access NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24.On 9 October we launched our Every Mind Matters campaign, which urges people to be kind to their mind. The campaign empowers people to look after their mental health by directing them to free, practical tips and advice, through the Every Mind Matters website. Every Mind Matters includes practical advice on coping with money worries and job uncertainty, and it provides links to a range of voluntary organisations that provide mental health support, such as CALM and Hub of Hope, and to organisations such as Mental Health and Money Advice, a United Kingdom-wide service that combines support for both mental health and financial problems.

Contraceptives

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Dear colleague letter on the Women’s Health Strategy Year 1 priorities, dated 24 January 2023, if he will make an estimate of when he plans to set out steps to improve access and choice for contraception.

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Women’s Health Strategy for England published August 2022, whether it is his Department to set out plans for sexual and reproductive health including access and choice for contraception.

Neil O'Brien: We are committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England, including improving access and choice for contraception, and are currently considering the need for a further Government plan.

Hospitals: Food

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of levels of (a) patient and (b) staff satisfaction with hospital food.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.

Matt Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the measurement criteria for the effectiveness of improvements in hospital food.

Will Quince: No specific assessment has been made. NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards. No assessment has been made to date on many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.Trusts will be asked to self-declare its implementation status within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, which will ask for the names of the board representative, catering dietetic liaison and food safety specialist. Data will be collected statistically through the Estates Return Information Collection and hospital food will also be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment from late 2023.

Pharmacy: Closures

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many community pharmacies have closed in England in each of the last five years.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the trend in the level of funding for community pharmacies since 2019 on the availability of those pharmacies.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help reduce the rate of closure of community pharmacies in England.

Neil O'Brien: The following table shows the number of community pharmacies that opened and closed in England in each of the last five financial years. This includes changes of ownership which are counted both as a closure and an opening.Financial yearNumber of pharmacies openedNumber of pharmacies closed2017/182423472018/192203472019/202394052020/212364512021/22308418 There remains good access to National Health Service pharmaceutical services in England, with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance to their nearest pharmacy and two times more pharmacies in the more deprived areas.We continue to closely monitor the market. The Pharmacy Access Scheme supports access in areas where there are fewer pharmacies by financially supporting those pharmacies.No assessment has been made of the impact of the level of funding for community pharmacies since 2019 on the availability of those pharmacies.

Electronic Cigarettes: Health Hazards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment he has made of the safety of vaping liquids including the potential effects of inhalation.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken research on the potential impact of vaping on health.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake longitudinal research into the cumulative impact of vaping.

Neil O'Brien: The Department has commissioned and published a series of evidence reviews on vaping, with the final report of the series published in September 2022. The latest report assessed the potential effects of the inhalation of vaping liquids including their health impact along with poisonings, fire and explosion risks. This research found that in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking, but that vaping is not risk-free, particularly for people who have never smoked. The latest evidence review is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-updateThere are no current plans for the Government to undertake longitudinal research, but we will continue to monitor independent research.

Cancer: Health Services

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to prioritise (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) the other less survivable cancers in the Major Conditions Strategy, due to be published later this year.

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the newly announced Major Conditions Strategy will contain any new targets relating to cancer.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.

Nurses: Labour Turnover

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 137718 on Nurses: Labour Turnover, if he will publish the evidential basis for saying that the Nursing and Midwifery Council revalidation process has not had any impact on the retention of professionals on its register.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of registered (a) nurses and (b) midwives did not renew their registration when it was due in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022.

Will Quince: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) publishes annual reports about revalidation and commissioned an independent evaluation of the process over the first three years of operation, published in 2019. This report stated that revalidation rates remain in line with historical averages under the previous renewal scheme and can be found at the following link:https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/annual_reports_and_accounts/revalidationreports/ipsos-mori-revalidation-evaluation-report-year-3.pdf?_t_ihtmlfile%5CShell%5COpen%5CCommandThe report also showed that revalidation was considered to be a success with nurses and midwives reporting that they felt it encouraged accountability and pride in their profession. While there was some initial evidence of people over 65 leaving the register, this was likely to be because they were no longer practising and it was not thought that revalidation had been an impetus for practising professionals leaving the register.The Department does not hold data on the proportion of nurses and midwives that did not renew their registration when it was due. This data is held by the NMC. The NMC publishes an annual leavers survey to understand why people leave its permanent register, alongside annual and mid-year registration data reports.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department are taking to improve (a) the uptake of and (b) access to Covid-19 treatments.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) improve (i) awareness of and (ii) access to Covid-19 antivirals for people who are eligible to receive them and (b) review the eligibility criteria for Covid-19 antivirals.

Will Quince: In England, eligible patients who test positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by a clinician from a COVID Medicines Delivery Unit (CMDU) to discuss treatment suitability. The clinician will be responsible for assessing the patient and deciding which treatment option is most appropriate for them. Guidance has been provided to general practitioners, NHS 111 and hospital doctors to ensure information is available to support patients.Currently, immunocompromised patients who form part of the high-risk cohort are eligible for receiving COVID-19 treatments within the community following a positive test. The Therapeutics Clinical Review Panel has been established to review the patient cohorts which could be eligible for COVID-19 therapies. On 30 May 2022 the Department published an Independent Advisory Group report which revised the high-risk cohort and included additional groups of patients. As a result of these changes and improved identification by the National Health Service, the cohort of eligible patients has grown to an estimated 1.8 million patients in the United Kingdom. Access to treatments could be extended further if evidence from clinical trials supports doing so. The PANORAMIC study aims to improve understanding of the effectiveness antivirals in preventing hospitalisation and/or death in a largely vaccinated population will provide data for the NHS to determine which patient groups could benefit most from antiviral treatments.

Pethidine

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the medicine pethidine is expected to be available for patients who have been prescribed it.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons UK-manufactured pethidine supplies are not available as of 7 February 2023.

Will Quince: We are aware of supply issues with pethidine 50mg tablets until July 2023. However, alternative oral opioid analgesics remain available and clinicians who wish to continue to prescribe pethidine 50mg tablets can access these from specialist importers. Advice has been communicated to the National Health Service.

Department for Education

Children: Social Services

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to confirm which local areas have been selected for the families first for children pathfinder scheme.

Claire Coutinho: The Families First for Children pathfinder will work with up to 12 local areas to co-design and deliver end to end service reform, implementing new Family Help services, child protection arrangements and support for kinship care. This will deliver the department’s future vision for how we want to work with children and families in a select number of areasThe department will start to work with early adopters in spring 2023. In September 2023, we will launch the first wave of Pathfinders, working with three local areas and up to nine more local areas in the second year. Further information on the selection of the local areas will be available shortly.

Oak National Academy: Standards

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to incorporate quality assurance principles into its plans for the Oak National Academy.

Nick Gibb: Oak National Academy will embed quality assurance principles into every stage of developing new curriculum resources. Curriculum partners secured through the open procurement process will need to demonstrate high standards of quality in their approach to curriculum design, and all resources will be reviewed by teachers and subject experts before being finalised.The Department is confident that Oak will be operating robust quality assurance processes and ensuring that resources are continuously improved through both active testing and responding to user feedback. Oak will be subject to a review after its first two years of operation, as part of the wider Public Bodies Review Programme.

Free School Meals

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take further steps to increase (a) the universal infant free school meals grant and (b) the benefits-related free school meals component of the schools national funding formula in the context of the increase in the cost of food.

Nick Gibb: The Department recognises the pressures that schools and suppliers may be facing due to rising costs. The Department holds regular meetings with other government departments and with food industry representatives on a variety of issues, including public sector food supplies.This issue should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools. After the National Funding Formula (NFF) rates were set, the Department received additional funding from HM Treasury for core schools funding in 2022/23, in recognition of cost pressures. This funding has been distributed through a schools supplementary grant.Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In June 2022, the Government announced an increase to the rate of UIFSM funding to £2.41 per meal. Ordinarily, the new funding rates take effect from the start of the academic year. Due to cost pressures and some suppliers being forced to increase prices, these increases have been backdated.The 2022 Autumn Statement set out that schools will receive additional funding in both 2023/24 and 2024/25. This brings the core schools budget to a total of £58.8 billion in 2024/25, which is £2 billion greater than published in 2021. This £2 billion is over and above what had been previously committed.

Oak National Academy

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how Oak National Academy intends to license materials for use in Oak resources; and whether the Oak National Academy has approached (a) the Copyright Licensing Agency and (b) other organisations that are responsible for licensing the use of materials within education resources.

Nick Gibb: Oak National Academy is currently reviewing the best approach to licensing materials. Oak has conducted the recent procurement for the development of its first tranche of curriculum materials, on terms up to and including an Open Government Licence. The exact licence under which Oak’s new curriculum and resources will be shared will be confirmed before their publication.As part of its review, Oak is engaging with the Copyright Licensing Agency and a range of organisations and publishers responsible for licensing content.

Oak National Academy: Publishing

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that contributions to education resources commissioned by Oak National Academy are done so on the basis of fair terms and remuneration.

Nick Gibb: Oak National Academy’s first procurement to commission new curriculum packages closed in December 2023 and Oak will be confirming successful bidders in the coming weeks. Up to £8 million was available to curriculum partners through this procurement, with more funding in future rounds.As part of the bidding process, bidders were required to set out their full costings for intellectual property and time to develop resources. Successful bidders will be remunerated accordingly.The procurement complies with the Public Contracts Regulations (2015).

Schools: Uniforms

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to help increase awareness of school schemes that facilitate parents purchasing uniforms from other parents; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: In November 2021, the Department published statutory guidance to ensure that the cost of school uniform is reasonable and secures best value for money for parents. Schools and their governing boards must have regard to this guidance when developing and implementing their school and trust uniform policies. It is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms.The guidance states that schools should ensure that second hand uniform is available for parents to acquire, and to make these arrangements clear on their website.The Department has sought to raise parental awareness of this requirement through the Education Hub, which can be found at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/09/01/back-to-school-week-school-uniform-what-you-need-to-know/.

Schools: Sanitary Protection

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools made multiple orders through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools ordered period products through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what was the total cost of orders of period products through the Period Products Scheme in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Nick Gibb: In January 2020, the Department launched a new scheme to make free period products available for state funded primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges in England. This scheme was extended in July 2022 for a further two years.Since the scheme launched, 97% of secondary schools, 92% of post 16 colleges, and 68% of primary schools have signed up. This is an important step to ensure that period health does not present a barrier to education.A full breakdown of the data for each year of the scheme to date is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.The tables below provide a the number schools with multiple orders through the scheme, the number of schools who have ordered products through the scheme, and the total cost of orders through the scheme from 2020 to 2022.Number of schools with multiple orders through the scheme20202,49920212,41520222,303 Number of schools who have ordered period products through the scheme20209,702202110,21320227,473 Total cost of orders through the scheme2020£3,192,0002021£3,915,0002022£2,862,000

Skilled Workers: Vacancies

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Employer Skills Survey 2019, how many skill-shortage vacancies were reported in England in the (a) creative industries and (b) digital and technology sector.

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Employer Skills Survey 2019, how many skill-shortage vacancies were reported in England in the (a) creative industries and (b) digital and technology sector; and how many such vacancies were reported in the previous survey.

Robert Halfon: The Employer Skills Survey (ESS) has run biennially since 2011, providing a vital source of intelligence on the skills issues employers face. The survey captures the density and incidence of skills shortage vacancies.The survey provides a breakdown of all key metrics by 13 sectors.For the creative industries sector, the closest published sector code is arts and other services. This covers arts, entertainment and recreation and other service activities including performing arts, libraries and museums, gambling and betting, sports facilities, amusement and recreation activities, activities of religious, political, trade union and professional membership organisations, and personal services, such as hairdressing, beauty, textile cleaning, well-being activities and funeral activities. In England, in 2019 there was a total of 8,229 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was a total of 12,410 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.For the digital and technology sector, the closest published sector code is information and communications. This covers television, film and music production, broadcasting, telecommunications, computer programming, publishing, software and computer games and consultancy and information service activities, such as data processing and hosting. In England, in 2019 there were 9,075 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was 10,064 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.In its current format, the ESS is not able to provide representative data for a more granular level of sector than the above. The department is exploring the feasibility of including breakdowns by two and four digit Standard Industrial Classification codes for future publications of the ESS data.

Out-of-School Education: East Sussex

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 129756 on Out-of-School Education: East Sussex, on what date did Ofsted attempt to inspect Hope Sussex Community Hub.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 129756 on Out-of-School Education: East Sussex, what was the outcome of Ofsted’s attempt to inspect Hope Sussex Community Hub.

Nick Gibb: Section 97 inspections carried out by Ofsted form part of the inspectorate’s activity to determine if a setting is operating unlawfully. Such activity can lead to criminal prosecutions. It is therefore not appropriate to provide detail in relation to inspections which may lead to criminal prosecutions at a later date.

Students: Cost of Living

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Statement made on 11 January 2023 by the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, whether her Department held consultations with the Office for Students regarding the demands on university hardship funds before the reallocation of £15 million to premium funding; and what recent steps she has taken to support students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Robert Halfon: The department discusses the additional cost of living pressures that are impacting students this year in our regular meetings with stakeholders, including the Office for Students (OfS), Universities UK and the higher education Mission Groups. The department has also consulted with the National Association of Student Money Advisers to understand the ongoing situation in relation to increased requests from students for hardship awards from their universities.On 11 January 2023, the department announced a one-off reallocation of funding to add £15 million to this year's student premium funding, enabling extra hardship awards to be made to tens of thousands of disadvantaged students. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students. This extra funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes. The department works with the OfS to ensure universities support students using both hardship funds and drawing on the student premium.All households will save on their energy bills through the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme discount. Students who buy their energy from a domestic supplier are eligible for the energy bills discount. The Energy Prices Act, passed on 25 October 2022, includes the provision which requires landlords to pass any benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users, as appropriate. Further details of the requirements under this Act are set out in the legislation.

Ministry of Justice

Courts: Standards

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court cases have been rescheduled due to industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services union.

Mike Freer: The Ministry of Justice does not hold information on the number of cases that are rescheduled due to industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services Union. More general information is published on the number of trial cases that are rearranged on the day of trial (ineffective trials) in the Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool by reason and court type.

Courts: Standards

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services union on court backlogs.

Mike Freer: Strike action related to the rollout of the Common Platform continues, with Public and Commercial Services mandates in place across 82 Magistrates courts covering 295 legal advisers and court associates.There have been 33 days of strike action since October 2022. Thanks to the ongoing work of HMCTS, the on-the-day impacts of these strikes have been minimal and well mitigated through case prioritisation, re-listing and use of non-striking staff to cover absences.Despite the strikes, disposals have remained high. The magistrates’ courts averaged 103,000 disposals per month between January and September 2022. However, October saw 108,500 disposals and November saw 122,700 disposals.The outstanding caseload in the Magistrates’ Court stood at 337,800 at the end of November 2022, compared to 348,400 the month before.

Drugs: Trials

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the average time taken for drug dealing cases to be completed in court in each year since 2010.

Mike Freer: Average timeliness from first listing/receipt at court to completion for the offence group ‘drug offences’ has been provided in the attached table. The table is broken down by court type and year and is a subset of published Criminal Court Statistics (Tables T3 and T4): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022. Crown Court data is only available from 2014 onwards.Our decisive action in the courts kept justice moving during the face of an unprecedented pandemic and as a result, the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court reduced from around 60,600 cases in June 2021 to 57,500 cases at the end of March 2022.However, the caseload increased again from April, primarily due to the Criminal Bar Association action, and stood at 62,500 at the end of October. The caseload is now beginning to decrease and stood at 61,700 at the end of December 2022.We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the maximum level in this financial year and beyond. We have taken decisive steps to improve timeliness by removing the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second financial year in a row, recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions and legislating to give more flexibility to return cases to the Magistrates’ courts.Table_135256 (xlsx, 22.4KB)

Theft: Trials

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the average time taken for theft cases to be completed in court in each year since 2010.

Mike Freer: Average timeliness from first listing/receipt at court to completion for theft offences has been provided in the attached table. The table is broken down by court type and year and is a subset of published Criminal Court Statistics (tables T3 and T4): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022. Crown Court data is only available from 2014 onwards.Our decisive action in the courts kept justice moving during the face of an unprecedented pandemic and as a result, the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court reduced from around 60,600 cases in June 2021 to 57,500 cases at the end of March 2022.However, the caseload increased again from April, primarily due to the Criminal Bar Association action, and stood at 62,500 at the end of October. The caseload is now beginning to decrease and stood at 61,700 at the end of December 2022.We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the maximum level in this financial year and beyond. We have taken decisive steps to improve timeliness by removing the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second financial year in a row, recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions and legislating to give more flexibility to return cases to the Magistrates’ courts.Table_135252 (xlsx, 22.4KB)

Burglary: Trials

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the average time taken for domestic burglary court cases to be completed in each year since 2010.

Mike Freer: Average timeliness from first listing/receipt at court to completion for domestic burglary offences has been provided in the attached table. The table is broken down by court type and year and is a subset of published Criminal Court Statistics (Tables T3 and T4): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2022. Crown Court data is only available from 2014 onwards.Our decisive action in the courts kept justice moving during the face of an unprecedented pandemic and as a result, the outstanding caseload in the Crown Court reduced from around 60,600 cases in June 2021 to 57,500 cases at the end of March 2022.However, the caseload increased again from April, primarily due to the Criminal Bar Association action, and stood at 62,500 at the end of October. The caseload is now beginning to decrease and stood at 61,700 at the end of December 2022.We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the maximum level in this financial year and beyond. We have taken decisive steps to improve timeliness by removing the limit on sitting days in the Crown Court for the second financial year in a row, recruiting up to 1,000 judges across all jurisdictions and legislating to give more flexibility to return cases to the Magistrates’ courts.Table_135250 (xlsx, 24.4KB)

Family Courts: Standards

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce backlogs in the family courts; and whether he has assessed the potential impact of reinstating legal aid contracts and restoring early legal advice for family law cases on reducing the backlogs.

Mike Freer: Reducing the backlog in the family courts is a priority for this Department. Alongside the successful Mediation Voucher Scheme which, as of 5 February 2023, has allowed over 14,500 separating couples to access mediation away from the family courts, we intend to publish a consultation shortly seeking views on proposals to support families to reach agreements earlier.We are expanding our plans for judicial recruitment to secure enough capacity to sit at the required levels across all jurisdictions in this financial year and beyond.Legal aid contracts remain in place for family matters that are within scope of legal aid, as set out by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

Special Educational Needs: Appeals

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds the proportion of decisions on ECH plans assessments that were overturned at a tribunal in England for each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Freer: An appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) may contain an appeal against one or more Local Authority decisions and will, for statistical purposes, be classed as being in favour of the appellant if the appeal succeeds in full or in part.The table below shows the number of appeals determined at hearing in each of the last three statistical years and of those the number and percentage of cases found in favour of the appellant.YearNumber of appeals determined at hearingNumber of appeals in favour of the appellant%2021/225600539396%2020/214825465193%2019/203770357795%

Courts: ICT

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on which date ministers last met with trade unions to discuss the Common Platform.

Mike Freer: Ministers have met with staff to discuss Common Platform.I have also met with a range of staff users in both Magistrates and Crown Courts in Manchester and Birmingham.

Courts: ICT

Kate Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the Common Platform (a) has already cost, and (b) is expected to cost.

Mike Freer: I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 5 September 2022 to Question 42140: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.

Ministry of Justice: Liability

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 137767 on Ministry of Justice: Liability, what specific legal challenge caused the increase in value.

Mike Freer: The legal challenge referred to in my previous answer (Question 137767) is an appeal against a Court decision to greatly restrict the Claimant’s case that the Secretary of State ruled incorrectly on Prison Service Pay Review Body recommendations.

Energy: Meters

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had recent discussions with the senior presiding judge of England and Wales on whether his recent guidance to magistrates on the suspension of the granting of warrants for forced entry to install prepayment meters included the cancellation of warrants previously approved but yet to be actioned.

Mike Freer: It is standard practice not to comment on discussions between Ministers and the judiciary. The Senior Presiding Judge has made the position clear, and it is not the role of Ministers to comment on judicial decisions. The scope of judicial decisions and advice is a matter for the judiciary, who act independently from government.

Leasehold: Derelict Land

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Justice Committee's oral evidence session on the work of the Ministry of Justice on 31 January 2023 and Question 59 on the £73.7 million attributed to a lease of undeveloped land, whether his Department plans to seek a change in the covenant to allow the land to be used for broader purposes.

Mike Freer: My officials have engaged with the landowner to seek a change to the restrictions on the lease, so that the surplus land can be put to alternative use as soon as possible. This would require the agreement of the landowner.

Prison Education Review

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 108299 on Prison Education Review, what role the central contract management team has in the commissioning of larger Dynamic Purchasing System contracts.

Damian Hinds: The Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is designed to enable governors to commission innovative, local projects that meet the needs of their prisoners. Where a DPS contract is delivered on multiple sites and relates to business priority deliverables, the contract management team will undertake additional assurance activity.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Palestinians: Politics and Government

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the situation in Jenin.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the situation in Jenin.

David Rutley: The Minister for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, set out on 26 January 2023 that Israel has a right to self-defence but security operations must be in line with international law. Where security measures are required, we encourage Israel to deploy these in a way which minimises tension and the use of appropriate force. In instances where there have been accusations of excessive use of force, we advocate for swift, transparent investigations. We will continue to stress the importance of the Israeli security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, particularly the need to protect children, and urge restraint in the use of live fire.

UNRWA: Finance

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding provided by his Department to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to increase his Department's funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

David Rutley: We are longstanding supporters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). We recognise that UNRWA needs to be on a more secure financial footing to ensure that Palestinian refugees' basic needs are met. To that end, the UK is working with UNRWA and other donors to help ensure its sustainability. In the financial year 2022/2023, the UK provided UNRWA with £18.7 million, including £13 million for UNRWA's programme budget for spend in OPTs, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; £2 million for work in Gaza and £3.7 million for food assistance - both under UNRWA's OPTs emergency appeal. Decisions on funding for FY 23/24 have not yet been finalised.

Syria: Peace Negotiations

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help promote peace in Syria.

David Rutley: I Refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 10 February to question 138074 from the Hon. Member for Rother Valley.The UK uses its UN Security Council role to advance the UN-facilitated political process in line with UNSCR 2254. We support the work of UN Special Envoy to this effect, and are working with him to develop his 'step for step' approach to making progress. The Assad regime and its backers remain intransigent; we urge them to engage in good faith.Lasting peace requires accountability. We pursue this through sanctions; raising awareness of crimes committed in Syria; and support for evidence-gathering, including through the UN Commission of Inquiry; the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria; and UK programme partners.

BBC Arabic Service and BBC Persian Service: Closures

Sir Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the de facto closure of BBC Persian and BBC Arabic on the UK's soft power.

David Rutley: The FCDO strongly values the work of the BBC World Service in promoting UK values globally through its independent and impartial broadcasting. The Integrated Review recognised the BBC's foreign language services as part of what makes the UK a soft power superpower.Through the World2020 programme, the FCDO funds 12 language services and provides enhancements to certain services funded by the Licence Fee, including BBC Arabic. The remaining 29 services, including BBC Persian, are fully funded by the Licence Fee.The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from Government, and therefore decisions about how language services are delivered are for them to take. Under the plans they announced last year, no language services will close. Whilst radio broadcasts for BBC Arabic and BBC Persian are ceasing, TV broadcasting for these services will continue and investment in digital services will increase, reflecting audience trends. BBC have provided assurance that audiences in need will still be served, regardless of these changes.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Procurement

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the potential impact of the Procurement Bill on his Department's policies.

Leo Docherty: The FCDO Commercial Directorate is in regular communication with the Cabinet Office on the potential impact of the Procurement Bill on FCDO policies.

Pakistan: Counter-terrorism and Radicalism

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Government of Pakistan on steps to improve cooperation on counter-terrorism and counter-extremism.

Leo Docherty: We regularly discuss shared threats with the Government of Pakistan, including those relating to terrorism and especially those coming from Afghanistan. UK counter-terrorism assistance to Pakistan has focussed on protecting civilians, strengthening rule of law and developing civilian counter-terrorism institutions.

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to restrict the provision of legal services to Russia in the context of the case of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Leo Docherty: The Government does not comment on its plans for future sanctions, however we keep all sanctions measures under constant review.

Sidhu Moose Wala

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his Indian counterpart on (a) the murder of Sidhu Moosewala and (b) taking steps to secure a conviction for that murder.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We are aware of the case of Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu (also known by Sidhu Moose Wala) and our network in India will continue to monitor developments. However, we recognise that this is a matter for India and the Indian legal system.In general, where we have any issues, we raise them directly with the Government of India, including at Ministerial level.

Myanmar: Fuels

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has had discussions with UK P&I Club on insuring vessels delivering aviation fuel to Myanmar.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: On 31 January the UK sanctioned two companies and two individuals responsible for supplying the military regime with aviation fuel. We have also updated our Overseas Business Risk Guidance to make it clear UK businesses should conduct thorough supply chain due diligence to ensure commodities, such as aviation fuel, do not reach the Myanmar military.We have not had any specific meetings with the UK P&I Club on Myanmar, but we maintain regular contact with insurance providers to understand the market and update them on policy announcements.

Myanmar: Sanctions

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he discussed coordination of sanctions against the Myanmar military with his Australian counterpart during her recent visit to the UK.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK has led the international sanctions efforts to reduce the Myanmar military's access to revenue, arms and equipment, in close coordination with partners. The Foreign Secretary welcomed Australia's recent sanctions announcement during his meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, on 1 February. Both acknowledged the importance of taking coordinated action.The UK will continue to work closely with our partners to understand how we can take targeted and proportionate action to reduce the military's access to funds to facilitate their campaign of violence.

Myanmar: Education

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether children educated in monasteries receiving British aid via the Myanmar Education Consortium are taught using the Burmese military controlled school curriculum.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Monastic education is an important educational provision in Myanmar, often reaching children in poor and conflict-affected communities with no alternative schooling. These schools are run independently by monks and follow the Myanmar national curriculum developed before the coup.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on the potential foreign policy benefits of the UK's admission to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Foreign Secretary is in frequent contact with Cabinet colleagues on a range of topics relating to Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office support to their efforts and the foreign policy benefits of their activities overseas. He most recently discussed the UK's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with the Secretary of State for International Trade on 25 January. In line with the Integrated Review, we are committed to pursuing deeper engagement in the Indo-Pacific, in support of shared prosperity, security and stability. Joining CPTPP is central to this vision.

Syria: Turkey

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his (a) Turkish and (b) other international counterparts on reopening the sole Bab al Hawa border crossing into Syria.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Prime Minister spoke to President Erdogan on 7 February, noting the humanitarian situation over the border in north west Syria, where Turkey plays an important coordinating role. Furthermore the UK welcomes the UN-brokered agreement on 13 February to open additional border crossings into north west Syria for an initial period of 3 months. This will enable more aid to reach communities affected by the devastating earthquake. It is vital that the UN is able to deliver aid swiftly via these border crossings and we will be working with the UN to verify that this is happening.

Indo-Pacific Region: Politics and Government and Press Freedom

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help promote (a) good governance and (b) press freedom in the Indo-Pacific region.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: As set out in the Integrated Review (March 2021), the UK is committed to and strategically focused on the Indo-Pacific region. The UK's close partnership with the US, Australia, New Zealand and other like-minded partners, such as Japan, across the region is an important part of our Indo-Pacific focus and ambitions to build a partnership through values that champion freedom, sovereignty and democracy across the region and globally. The UK remains fully committed to media freedom in the Indo-Pacific region. A free and independent media is an essential component of a functioning democratic society, in the Pacific as elsewhere.

British Embassy Tokyo: Land

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department expects to receive for the sale of the land adjacent to the British Embassy in Tokyo; and whether those funds will be reinvested into core diplomatic activities.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The proceeds of the sale of a section of the British Embassy compound in central Tokyo are commercially confidential. However, they will be fully reinvested in our Embassies in Tokyo, the wider Indo-Pacific region and across the rest of the world to provide some of the most modern and environmentally friendly diplomatic buildings in the world. By constantly reviewing the set-up of our 270 overseas missions we can deliver value for money for British taxpayers while we promote the UK's interests around the world.

Rescue Services: International Cooperation

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many volunteers have been registered with UK international search and rescue in each of the past five years.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: 250 volunteers have been registered with the UK International Search and Rescue in each of the past five years.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Members: Correspondence

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Cardiff West of 7 September 2022 on the report entitled Let the Music Move: A New Deal for Touring.

Julia Lopez: We apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member and will reply to the correspondence as soon as possible.The Department has engaged with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music on its ‘Let the Music Move – A New Deal for Touring’ report (published in July 2022), including submitting written evidence to the APPG inquiry. The Government continues to engage with the music sector and in Parliament on the important issue of touring.The Government recognises that the way creative workers work in the EU has changed. We are committed to supporting the sector to adapt to these new arrangements, and we have worked with the sector and directly with Member States to clarify what creative workers need to do.The majority of EU Member States, including the biggest touring markets such as Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, have confirmed they offer visa and work permit free routes for UK performers and other creative professionals. We continue to support the UK's brilliant musicians to adapt to the new arrangements and make touring easier.

Arts: Training

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to help increase skills in the creative and arts sector.

Stuart Andrew: As our world-leading creative sectors continue to grow and recover from the pandemic, the Government understands the importance of ensuring that the creative industries and the arts have the skills they need, both now and in the future. The DCMS-led Creative Industries Sector Vision, due to be published soon, will set out our long-term strategic vision for the sector to 2030. Focused on promoting growth, this vision will include consideration of the opportunities and challenges regarding the skills, workforce and talent pipeline for the sector.The Schools White Paper (2022) also set out that the Department for Education would publish a Cultural Education Plan, working with DCMS and our arms-length bodies, in 2023. The Plan aims to articulate and highlight the importance of high-quality cultural education in schools; promote the social value of cultural and creative education; outline and support career progression pathways; address skills gaps; and tackle disparities in opportunity and outcome. The crossbench peer, Baroness Bull, has been appointed to chair the independent advisory panel helping to inform the plan.The Government continues to support initiatives to boost training and employment opportunities in the arts and creative sectors. For example, DCMS supports the industry-led Creative Careers Programme, which between 2018 and 2020 showcased creative career pathways to over 115,000 pupils at over 1,500 schools across England. The programme, relaunched in 2022 with £950,000 of Government funding, will specifically target young people from under-represented backgrounds. It will do so in 77 priority areas across England, selected using data from the Government’s education and careers opportunity areas, and Levelling Up for Culture priority places.

Football: Hate Crime

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help tackle (a) misogyny and (b) other forms of discriminatory behaviour at football grounds.

Stuart Andrew: There is no place for sexism or any other kind of discrimination in sport, including at football grounds. It is vital that sports bodies continue to work together to tackle it.We continue to liaise closely with all the police and football authorities about their work to tackle discrimination. This includes actions targeted at and around football grounds, such as improving reporting systems, providing better training and support for referees and stewards, and improving the quality of CCTV around stadia.The Government also welcomes the work of organisations such as Women in Football and Kick it Out in challenging discrimination and breaking down inequalities between the sexes.Fans can also be charged with a Football Banning Order and fined if found to use derogatory language at football games, with the possibility of more severe sentences if it has been recorded as a hate crime. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been working with the FA, Premier League and English Football League to determine what evidence is required to charge an incident as a hate crime.

Arts: Finance

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to review how Arts Council England (a) allocated and (b) announced funding, for the National Portfolio Organisation 2023-26 funding round.

Stuart Andrew: The decisions made by Arts Council England about the allocation of funding for the National Portfolio Organisation 2023-26 funding round were taken at arm's length from HM Government. This is in accordance with the well established process, which is published on the Arts Council’s website and made clear in the guidance for applicants. As such, DCMS does not, nor should it, review individual decisions.The Department works with all its public bodies, including Arts Council England, on continuous improvements and assurance. My officials will work with Arts Council England to learn from this recent funding round, as they would for any area of its work.

Arts: Finance

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the appeals process for the funding decisions of Arts Council England.

Stuart Andrew: Arts Council England has a complaints process for its funding streams. This is available on Arts Council England’s website.Arts Council England will only reconsider a decision if it finds that a material mistake has been made. For example, an organisation (or individual) can use the complaints process if it believes that:Arts Council England has delayed, made mistakes or failed to follow its own processes;Arts Council England has failed to give an applicant access to information or has given an applicant incorrect advice or information;Arts Council England has not treated an applicant politely;Arts Council England has unlawfully discriminated against an applicant or not treated an applicant fairly.Arts Council England uses the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s principles of good complaint handling. If a complainant is dissatisfied with a decision or the way a complaint has been, complainants can refer the complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). Funding decisions by Arts Council England can also be subject to Judicial Review.

Entertainers: USA

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of making representations to US counterparts on their proposals to increase the costs of short- and long-term visas for touring performers.

Julia Lopez: My Department regularly engages across Government, and with the music sector, on issues concerning touring professionals. This engagement includes issues such as US visas.US immigration policy is ultimately a matter for the US authorities, so any decision taken on their visa system will be for them alone. The UK Government cannot interfere in another country’s processes and must respect their systems, just as we expect them to respect the UK’s processes.The Department for Business and Trade’s Export Support Service (ESS) can provide answers to UK businesses to practical questions about exporting or working abroad. The ESS can be reached by visiting the website: www.gov.uk/ask-export-support-team.

Aerials

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's policy is on broadcasting television signals through aerials beyond 2034.

Julia Lopez: The Government remains committed to the future of digital terrestrial television (DTT), the technology underpinning the popular Freeview platform.We know that millions of households across the UK rely on DTT and we expect this to continue over the next decade. We also recognise the crucial role that DTT plays in the wider UK broadcasting system, in particular in helping ensure that public service content continues to be widely available to all audiences.For these reasons, the Government has legislated to secure continuity of digital terrestrial television until at least 2034. We will continue to evaluate the future distribution of television as the sector evolves over the next decade, and we have asked Ofcom to undertake an early review on market changes that may affect the future of content distribution before the end of 2025.Before any decisions about the future of terrestrial television are made, close consideration will be given to how any changes would impact audiences, and especially those who rely on DTT as their primary means of watching television.

Olympic Games 2012

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has ongoing responsibility for (a) freeholders requiring cladding remediation and (b) other legacy issues at the Olympic Park.

Julia Lopez: The Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport does not hold responsibility for freeholders requiring cladding remediation at the Olympic Park. Responsibility for legacy issues is restricted to government guarantees that concern specific financial losses and costs related to the East Village for which a contractual claims process exists.

Olympic Delivery Authority and Stratford Village Development Partnership

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has any continued responsibilities for the (a) Olympic Delivery Authority and (b) Stratford Village Development Partnership.

Julia Lopez: The Olympic Delivery Authority was dissolved by Act of Parliament on 2 December 2014 and the Secretary of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport became responsible for all outstanding obligations and liabilities of the Olympic Delivery Authority. No legal responsibilities for the Stratford Village Development Partnership are held by the Department.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Ministerial Boxes

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many ministerial red (a) boxes and (b) folders were in use by her Department as of 1 February bearing the inscription Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and how much public money was spent on the procurement of those items.

Julia Lopez: As of 1 February, 4 ministerial folders bearing the inscription ‘Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’ were in use by the Department. The cost of each folder was £495 (including a £15 delivery fee).

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment and Support Allowance

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department collects on the work of the employment support programme in the 20 challenge areas.

Guy Opperman: We use the ONS Annual Population Survey Data as per the link below: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/summary.asp?mode=construct&version=0&dataset=17  And encourage Districts as part of their ‘business as usual’ to gather a strong evidence base / clear picture of the needs in their area using all sources of information covering the customer characteristics, employers and partners, labour market trends and funding opportunities. They work collaboratively with employers and partners to co-design new solutions and address any issues identified.

Flexible Support Fund

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awarded payments for (a) uniforms and (b) other clothing from the Flexible Support Fund in the last 12 months.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Employment Schemes

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals (a) were referred to, (b) participated in and (c) had a job outcome from the mentoring circles programme in each financial year since its launch.

Guy Opperman: Data on referral and participation in mentoring circles is not collated centrally.

Flexible Support Fund

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding has been allocated through the Flexible Support Fund to each Job Centre District in the last five financial years.

Guy Opperman: The information is not available.

Jobcentres: Closures

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 8 February 2023 from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Social Mobility, Youth & Progression on Decommissioning of Temporary Jobcentres, UIN HCWS549, (a) on what date the decision was made to decommission and (b) on what date Jobcentre staff were notified of the decommissioning of the temporary Jobcentres at (i) Aylesbury; (ii) Bath; (iii) Blyth; (iv) Burnley; (v) Dundee; (vi) Gateshead; (vii) Halifax; (viii) Inverness; (ix) Ipswich; (x) Kettering; (xi) Leeds; (xii) Lincoln; (xiii) London Hackney; (xiv) London Kentish Town; (xv) London Sutton Carew; (xvi) London Tooting; (xvii) Stevenage; (xviii) Sunderland; (xix) Swindon; and (xx) Wigan.

Mims Davies: The Department have always made it clear these sites are temporary, linked to the Plan for Jobs, and the interventions needed due to impact of the pandemic, and that we would look to decommission them at the appropriate time and move back into business as usual – as set out in two updates to Parliament on 23 March 2021 and 20 July 2022. To that end, the Department’s governance process, and decision to decommission the temporary Jobcentres listed in the Written Statement of 8 February 2023, was finalised on 10 January 2023. The Department shared the decision to decommission the temporary Jobcentres with the relevant staff for the sites listed in that Written Statement as soon as it was ready to do so – this took place via co-ordinated announcements at 9am on 8 February 2023.

Universal Credit

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 7 February 2023 to Questions 135446 and 135447 on Universal Credit, when data for the period stated will be available.

Guy Opperman: It is not possible to answer with precision at this stage. Data on the impact of the change in the AET change on claimant earnings will not be available for some time. This is due to the time it takes for the policy to have an effect on claimant earnings, and the time it will take to conduct a robust analysis of that data.

Universal Credit

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February to Question 135449, how many work coaches were asked by his Department to provide feedback on their experience of working with claimants who have been moved into the Intensive Work Search labour market regime as a direct result of the provisions in the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 between 26 September 2022 and 29 January 2023.

Guy Opperman: We are constantly seeking feedback from Work Coaches across the business on any changes that might impact claimants.

Universal Credit

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February to Question 135449 on Universal Credit, when he expects to be able to evaluate the impact of the Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 on claimants.

Guy Opperman: We are monitoring the implementation of the changes in the Administrative Earnings Threshold in order to gather insights into how to best support people in work to increase their earnings. The impact evaluation of the September AET rise will not take place for some time, as it will take a while for earnings increases to materialise given claimants need time to discuss their goals and situation with their Work Coach, consider their options with their employer and family, and take the necessary steps to grow their income.

Flexible Support Fund: Transport

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were awarded payments for transport from the Flexible Support Fund in the last 12 months.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit: Young People

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2023 to Question 133686 on Universal Credit: Young People, how many single claimants on Universal Credit in payment and entitled to the housing element were aged (a) 25-29, (b) 30-34, (c) 35-39, (d) 40-44, (e) 45-49, (f) 50-54, (g) 55-59, (h) 60-65 and (i) over 65 in August 2022.

Guy Opperman: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Employment: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals (a) were referred to, (b) participated in and (c) had a job outcome from the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme in each of the last five financial years.

Tom Pursglove: Referrals to Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) began in April 2019. Individuals can be referred to, and start, IPES more than once. The total number or referrals, starts, and outcomes by financial year is provided below:  Year 1:  April 2019 to March 2020Year 2:  April 2020 to March 2021Year 3:  April 2021 to March 2022Year 4:  April 2022 to January 2023*Referrals1,0604,2955,4103,550Starts7802,5903,0202,425Lower threshold outcomes-190990760Higher threshold outcomes-115740725 *Financial year ongoing Please note The data recorded in the IPES dataset does not meet the standards required to be included in the Official Statistics. Please treat all values as guide figures rather than actual figures.No outcomes are recorded against year 1 because of the time lag before outcomes are recorded, and the fact there were only a small number of starts in year 1, all towards the end of the year. IPES provision supports participants for up to 15 months, this means it can take some time before an outcome is achieved, therefore some outcomes shown in later years will be for participants who started the programme in earlier years.Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.The data for higher and lower threshold outcomes includes both employed and self-employed outcomes.Employment outcomes for IPES are paid when participants achieve the minimum thresholds, identified through HMRC Real Time Earnings data, and can be achieved at any point within the 639-day period that they are on programme (456 days support plus 182 days ‘In Work Support’, where required). Therefore, some outcomes in later years will be from people who started in earlier years:Lower threshold Outcome (LTO) - Earnings equivalent to 16 hours per week for 91 days, at the adult rate (age 25 and over) of the National Living Wage, or a cumulative period of not less than 91 days’ self-employment.Higher threshold Outcome (HTO) - Earnings equivalent to 16 hours per week for 182 days, at the adult rate (age 25 and over) of the National Living Wage, or a cumulative period of not less than 182 days’ self-employment.Any self-employed outcomes will have been paid when participants have been trading for the set time periods of 91 (LTO) or 182 (HTO) days and providers have sufficient evidence to confirm that the outcome is valid – these will also be achieved within the same 639-day period.More information on how outcomes are calculated can be found on the Gov.UK website under Intensive Personalised Employment Support provider guidance - Chapter 7.

Kickstart Scheme and Restart Scheme

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the underspend for the (a) Restart and (b) Kickstart schemes as of 7 February 2023.

Guy Opperman: The last published / audited figures showing the Restart position are from 21/22.   Budget Forecast Overspend £m£m £m 21/22333.9343.89.9  a) KickstartGrants were awarded in response to the economy's demand for the creation of additional jobs. Almost immediately after Kickstart launched, the economic situation changed significantly, lowering immediate demand for the scheme.The Department spend on Kickstart for 21/22 was £855.9m. Surplus funding of £96.9m was returned to HMT at year end. This is in line with the normal budgeting process.

Universal Credit

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children were living in households in receipt of Universal Credit and subject to deductions in each Parliamentary constituency in the most recent month for which data is available; how much was the (a) total and (b) average sum of such deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments.

Guy Opperman: The requested information is provided in the spreadsheet. Table 1 shows the requested analysis by parliamentary constituency for those with a payment due in August 2022:1) number of children in Universal Credit households2) the total and average sums of deductions for Universal Credit households with children3) the proportion of total deductions that is attributed to advance repayments for Universal Credit households with children.Attachment  (xlsx, 45.1KB)

Offshore Industry: Missing People

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2023 to Question 139285 on Offshore Industry: Missing People, whether an installation is classified as being within territorial waters if it is beyond 12 miles but part of its windfarm is within that distance.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Application outside Great Britain) Order 2013 applies the provisions of the 1974 Act to a variety of structures on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) which are in designated areas by virtue of an order under Section 1(7) of The Continental Shelf Act 1964 in addition to the UK territorial sea. An offshore installation is a structure used for the exploitation, or exploration with a view to exploitation, of mineral resources (eg oil and gas) by means of a well. The 2013 Order also applies the provisions of the 1974 Act to structures in the territorial sea or in a renewable energy zone created under Section 84(4) of the Energy Act 2004. These structures include those used for the production of energy from water or wind, eg a windfarm. There are currently no offshore installations on the UKCS that have a windfarm in the territorial sea.

Offshore Industry: Missing People

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2023 to Question 139285, whether the classification of within territorial waters relates to the siting of the specific installation.

Mims Davies: The specific installation is a mobile installation, specifically a jack-up drilling rig. It had been engaged in drilling work at a field on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) over 100 miles east of mainland Scotland. When that work was completed the rig was towed to the port of Dundee. The territorial sea is defined by The Territorial Sea Act 1987 which are waters adjacent to the United Kingdom coastline and cover a breadth of 12 nautical miles.

Offshore Industry: North Sea

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the annual (a) budget and (b) staffing levels duty holders in the North Sea have allocated to backlogs of unmanaged Safety and Environment Critical Element maintenance and inspection work in each of the last five years to date.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been proactively engaged with duty holders over the last five years to ensure that they have effective management of Safety and Environment Critical Element (SECE) maintenance and inspection backlogs. In 2022 HSE wrote to 43 duty holders operating 193 production installations requiring them to provide details of SECE maintenance backlogs and the action proposed by the duty holder to manage the backlog. It is for the duty holder to identify the risk and allocate a budget and staffing levels proportionate to the risk, therefore HSE does not hold any data on the budgets and staffing levels of duty holders. Where HSE interventions identify concerns with the duty holder’s arrangements, enforcement action is taken in line with HSE’s Enforcement Management Model.

Offshore Industry: North Sea

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will list the engineering contractors employed by the duty holder on each of the installations listed in the Health and Safety Executive’s Quarterly Offshore Hydrocarbon Release Report published on 22 December 2022.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive does not hold this information.

Offshore Industry: North Sea

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects to classify the twenty eight hydrocarbon releases reported on installations in the North Sea which were awaiting classification according to the Health and Safety Executive’s Quarterly Offshore Hydrocarbon Release Report published on 22 December 2022.

Mims Davies: The Health and Safety Executive expects all 28 hydrocarbon releases to be classified in the spring.

Universal Credit

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children live in households which are in receipt of Universal Credit but have experienced a deduction to that benefit in each parliamentary constituency in the most recent month for which data is available.

Guy Opperman: The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet. Table 1 shows the requested analysis of number of children in Universal Credit households and number of children in Universal Credit households with deductions for claims with a payment due in August 2022 by Parliamentary Constituency in Great Britain (GB). Accompanying Notes:1. Figures per low level geography are rounded to the nearest 100, total claims at GB level are rounded to the nearest 1,000. Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent. The sum of individual low level geographies may not sum to the total figure due to rounding.2. Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.3. Children are defined here as being people who are declared as living in the same household as the UC claimant(s) and who are under the age of 20. The number of children may not be equal to the number of dependent children in the household who are eligible for child element for various reasons. This includes children over the age of 16 in non-advanced full-time education, looked-after children and, other young people living in multigenerational households whose parents are not the claimant. Those affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children may also have a larger number of children compared to the number of children entitled to the child element in their household.4. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.5. The 'unknown' label relates to claims for which a constituency could not be determined due to incomplete postcode information.6. Data for August 2022 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.7. Claim numbers and number of children on UC will not match official statistics caseloads due to methodological differences.Attachment (xlsx, 51.9KB)

Pensions: Self-employed

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to hold a consultation on extending the automatic pension scheme enrolment of people who are self-employed.

Laura Trott: The Department’s 2017 Review confirmed that the Automatic Enrolment (AE) framework cannot be straightforwardly extended to people who are self-employed, as by definition there is no employer to enrol them into a scheme; select a scheme or make contributions. We remain committed to enabling self-employed people to achieve greater financial security in later life. Finding effective and enduring solutions is a long-term challenge given the highly diverse nature of this group, with varying incomes, assets, and employment experiences. The learnings from the recent trialling and research programme delivered through Nest Insight have provided a useful platform to move forward, helping us to build the evidence base. We are working with software providers to explore the feasibility of building and testing retirement savings solutions in digital platforms, such as accountancy software and payment platforms, used by self-employed people to manage their money.

Personal Independence Payment

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have had their Personal Independence Payments reduced in the last year following (a) a telephone consultation and (b) an in-person assessment.

Tom Pursglove: Table (a) shows the number of claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who had an Award Review by telephone or in person between November 2021 and October 2022 who had their award decreased or disallowed. Table (a) – claimants who had their award reduced at in-person or telephone assessment  VolumeIn person1600Telephone15400Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)Notes:This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision;Figures are rounded to the nearest 100;Figures are for England and Wales only;Figures include planned Award Reviews and unplanned Change of Circumstance reviews; andThis data includes initial decisions only, and does not include mandatory reconsiderations or appeals.

Personal Independence Payment

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when home assessments for Personal Independence Payments will resume in-person.

Tom Pursglove: Home assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) were resumed from 8 August 2022. Where other methods, such as paper-based, telephone, video, or face-to-face assessment in an assessment centre cannot be undertaken, a home assessment will be arranged.

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February to Question 135441 on Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment, how many of the claimants disallowed for non-return of the AR1 form had an ACS watermark applied to their PIP record in each year from 2017 to 2021.

Tom Pursglove: Advanced Customer Support (ACS) was introduced in 2021; therefore, information on ACS is not available for the full time period requested. Claimants who are identified or deemed as vulnerable are annotated with an Additional Customer Support (ACS) marker which is applied as a ‘watermark’ on their PIP record. This group will include those who may be vulnerable due to their circumstances, not just their condition. Advanced Customer Support does not have the same functionality in the PIP computer system as Additional Support. Additional Support is where a claim is not disallowed under a ‘negative determination’, when the PIP2 is not returned, and is automatically referred to the Assessment Provider for an assessment without a claimant questionnaire. A customer can be identified as having Additional Support needs in addition to Advanced Customer Support concerns. The information requested for the period since ACS introduction is not readily available. Providing the information would require manual examination of each individual PIP claim and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants who have had their benefits suspended by the risk review team have had their benefits reinstated.

Tom Pursglove: As of 11th February 2023, the cumulative total of customer cases reinstated following review by the Risk Review Team is 7,221.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who had their benefits suspended by the risk review team were subsequently convicted of fraud.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefits claims suspended by the risk review team have been (a) closed and (b) remain suspended.

Tom Pursglove: As of 11th February 2023, the cumulative total of customer cases suspended by the Risk Review Team is 188,119. Of these, 71,496 have been closed and 109,402 remain suspended. The remaining 7,221 have been reinstated following review.

Personal Independence Payment

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payment claimants were identified as needing Additional Support and automatically progressed to the provider for an assessment but (a) did not have an assessment or (b) had their claim disallowed after the assessment in each of the last five years.

Tom Pursglove: Table (a) shows the number of claimants identified as needing Additional Support who were automatically progressed to the provider for assessment but were disallowed. Claimants who did not have an assessment after being progressed to the provider are those who failed to attend their assessment. Claimants who the case manager determines did not score enough points to be awarded the benefit are indicated in the table below as “Disallowed – failed assessment”. In more recent years, more claims have been made to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and more claims have been identified as needing Additional Support. Table (a) – Disallowances at assessment provider of claimants identified as needing Additional Support 20172018201920202021Disallowed - Failed to Attend1600220015009002100Disallowed - Failed Assessment170023002100650018000 Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)Notes:Figures are rounded to the nearest 100;Figures are for England and Wales only;Figures include New Claims and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessments; andThis data includes initial decisions only, and does not include mandatory reconsiderations or appeals.

Employment Support Allowance

Ms Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming Employment Support Allowance have permitted earnings; and how many and what proportion of those people are also in receipt of (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit.

Tom Pursglove: In May 2022, there were 120,610 claimants on ESA in permitted work, which is 7.2% of all ESA claimants. Of these, there were: 700 (0.6%) with Working Tax Credits; 5,420 (4.5%) with Child Tax Credits; and 1,810 (1.5%) with both.

Orthopaedics: Surgery

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact on trends in the level of employment of delays to orthopaedic surgery.

Tom Pursglove: We are interpreting the question to ask what assessment has been made of the impact on levels of employment due to delays in orthopaedic surgery. No assessment has been made by DWP. Musculoskeletal conditions remain one of the most common conditions amongst those that are economically inactive due to long term sickness. The Government has a range of initiatives supporting disabled people, and people with health conditions, including those economically inactive due to long term sickness, to start, stay and succeed in work. We are currently working across Government, the health system and with employers, to tackle rising inactivity, building on the Government’s existing package of support.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 5 on page 2 of the Institute for Fiscal Studies report, The number of new disability benefit claimants has doubled in a year, published in December 2022, whether he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the report's findings on trends in the number of people reporting that their health limits their daily activities.

Tom Pursglove: I have frequent discussions with other members of the Government on a range of issues in my role as Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work. Entitlement to Personal Independence Payment is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Claim volumes vary over time and not all claims are successful. Between the year ending October 2021 and year ending October 2022, the overall increase of new claims was 18.2%.

Personal Independence Payment

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to reduce the backlog of people awaiting a Personal Independence Payment claim to be assessed.

Tom Pursglove: We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department, and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all the available evidence, including that from the claimant. We are continuing to see an improvement in PIP clearance times, with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced each quarter from 26 weeks in August 2021, to 16 weeks at the end of October 2022. This is because we are: Using a blend of phone, video and face-to-face assessments to support customers and deliver a more efficient and user-centred service;Increasing case manager and assessment provider health professional resource; andPrioritising new claims, whilst safeguarding claimants awaiting award reviews, who have returned their information as required, to ensure their payments continue until their review can be completed.

Ministry of Defence

Service Police Complaints Commissioner: Public Appointments

Sarah Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a Service Police Complaints Commissioner has been appointed.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I am pleased to confirm that His Majesty The King appointed Margaret Obi as the first Service Police Complaints Commissioner. The role of the Commissioner is to provide independent oversight of the Service Police complaints system; Ms Obi will bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to this role. The Commissioner will have functions similar to those conferred on the Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Armed Forces: Suicide

Sarah Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Suicide Action Plan for the armed forces will be implemented.

Sarah Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people in the (a) army, (b) navy, (c) air force and (d) Royal Marines died as a result of suicide in each of the last five years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The latest published statistics show for the latest 20-year period the UK Regular Armed Forces remain at a significantly lower risk of suicide than the UK general population. Statistics on suicides in the Armed Forces, covering the period from 1 January 1984 to 31 December 2021, are available at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-suicides-2021 The Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Strategy (AFSPS) and Action Plan will be published shortly. The APSPS will enhance our efforts to reduce suicide and better support those affected by it. It has been developed by a small group of subject-matter experts across Defence, based on national guidance and using an Armed Forces evidence-base. The Action Plan will enable delivery of the AFSPS, informed by consultation with relevant stakeholders across Defence.

Armed Forces: Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on housing members of the (a) army, (b) navy and (c) air force in hotels due to substandard single living accommodation in the latest period for which data is available.

James Heappey: I will write to the right hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Hawk Aircraft

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Royal Air Force Hawk T2 jets have been grounded.

Alex Chalk: No. The Hawk T2 fleet resumed flying on 31 January 2023 after a short precautionary pause.

Military Aircraft: Helicopters

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost to the public purse has been of Project MATCHA as of 7 February 2023.

Alex Chalk: The total cost of Project MATCHA to date is £38.55 million.

Jurisdiction

Sarah Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the concurrent jurisdiction protocol will be published.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Service Prosecuting Authority and the civilian prosecuting authorities intend to publish the draft revised Protocols later this month, with the final revised Protocol for each prosecutorial jurisdiction of the UK to be published later this year.

Ajax Vehicles: Procurement

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the Government has resumed payments to General Dynamics.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been paid to General Dynamics from the public purse for the AJAX programme.

Alex Chalk: Payments to General Dynamics Land Systems UK against the main Ajax contract have not resumed and the total paid to date remains at £3.167 billion.

Claro Barracks: Closures

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 136506 on Claro Barracks: Closures, how much of the investment his Department is making in the defence estate will be spent on the maintenance of Claro Barracks until 2026.

Alex Chalk: None of the £5.1 billion investment programme will be spent on the maintenance of Claro Barracks. The maintenance of the military estate is a separate budget to the Defence Estate Optimisation investment in more modern and sustainable facilities.

Claro Barracks: Closures

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 136505 on Claro Barracks: Closures, how much of the savings from the disposal of the wider defence estate will be generated by the disposal of Claro Barracks by 2026.

Alex Chalk: This disposal of Claro Barracks from 2026 is forecast to generate running cost and maintenance savings of c£275 million.

Ministry of Defence: Land

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the documents entitled Map of Lands owned by the MOD UK establishments North Region, published on 12 December 2014, and Map of Lands owned by the MOD UK establishments South Region, published on 17 December 2014, if he will provide a complete data set for (a) Wales, (b) North West, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) West Midlands, (e) East Midlands and (f) East of England.

Alex Chalk: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is unable to provide the complete data set for (a) Wales, (b) North West, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) West Midlands, (e) East Midlands and (f) East of England, as referenced in the documents entitled Map of Lands owned by MOD UK establishments North Region, published on 12 December 2014, and Map of Lands owned by the MOD UK establishments South Region, published on 17 December 2014 for the following reasons: · The data requested is Ordnance Survey licensed data and cannot be shared to a third party without permission. · The data requested will include data of a sensitive nature and cannot be released outside of the Department.

Haythornthwaite Review of Armed Forces Incentivisation

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the Haythornthwaite Review of Armed Forces Incentivisation.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The review is expected to conclude by Spring 2023, when a report will be submitted to the Secretary of State for Defence, who will determine the Government’s response in due course. It is anticipated that the report and the response will be published together, likely to be in the mid to latter half of this year.

Military Aircraft: Helicopters

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the number of flying hours of his Department's fleet of Airbus H135 helicopters were in the last 12 months.

Alex Chalk: From January to December 2022 the H135 fleet on No1 Flying Training School flew 15,901 hours of Core Service Flying Hours (CSFH) and 150 flying hours of other tasking. The total flown by the H135 in 2022 was 16,051 flying hours.

Military Aircraft: Helicopters

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in which facility is his Department's fleet of Airbus H135 helicopters stored in as of February 2023.

Alex Chalk: 29 UKMFTS H135 (Juno) aircraft are maintained and operated from RAF Shawbury. Four other H135 aircraft are stored at RAF Shawbury with a fifth H135 aircraft located at the Airbus Helicopter UK facility at Kidlington.

Defence Equipment: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish a full list of items procured as Urgent Capability Requirements in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023 as of 7 February 2023.

Alex Chalk: The Ministry of Defence does not publicly declare delivered or in-development Urgent Capability Requirements, in doing so this could offer opportunities to our adversaries to target these areas.

Home Office

Asylum

David Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many withdrawal of international protection decisions were made by the UK in 2022 broken down by nationality of applicant and by applicant's protection status.

Robert Jenrick: Information regarding the number of cessations or withdrawals of international protection decisions made by the UK in 2022, and the nationality, and protection status of each applicant subject to those decisions, is not held centrally and to obtain it would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.

Visas: Africa

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which visa application centres in Africa have document scanning facilities (a) on site and (b) available to applicants for visitor visas.

Robert Jenrick: All UK visa application centres in Africa have document scanning facilities on site which are available to applicants for visitor visas.

Passports: Applications

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling passport renewal applications to be processed before the old passports for those applications have been returned.

Robert Jenrick: His Majesty’s Passport Office policy is that an individual should only be in possession of one valid passport at any time, with some very limited exceptions for those with a legitimate need for an additional passport. This ensures that any previous passports are appropriately cancelled before a new one is issued in order to maintain the integrity of the passport, protect the identity of the holder and prevent fraud.

UK Border Force: Medals

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason current members of the Border Force who retired before 1 January 2022 are ineligible for a Border Force Long Service Medal.

Robert Jenrick: The Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is awarded under strict eligibility criteria. Staff who retired before the 1st January 2022 are unfortunately not eligible. The 1st January 2022 date was chosen to coincide with the receipt of the Royal Warrant of Appointment in June 2021. Seasonal Workforce staff members who are currently employed by Border Force or Immigration Enforcement, following less than a 12-month break with permanent service in Border Force or Immigration Enforcement, will be eligible.

Teleperformance: Visas

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with Teleperformance UK on quality control of decision making for visitor visas.

Robert Jenrick: UKVI’s commercial partner, Teleperformance, has no involvement in the visa decision making process.All decisions on UK visit visa applications are made by the Home Office and the quality control of these decisions is not shared or discussed with Teleperformance.

Asylum Dispersal Grants: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department plans to provide to the Department of Education in Northern Ireland through the Asylum Dispersal Grant in the next 12 months; when schools in Northern Ireland were invited to bid for that funding; and what the deadlines for those bids is.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has been working with The Executive Office (TEO) on an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding funding. The MoU is similar to the asylum dispersal grant funding provided to regions in England, Scotland and Wales, in which the Home Office has funded Northern Ireland over £4million as of December 2022. This funding is unconditional and will be allocated by the TEO.

Dinitrophenol

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 136690 on Dinitrophenol, what information her Department holds on any previous legal uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol, including when they ceased.

Tom Tugendhat: No specific research has been commissioned by the Home Office to investigate ways in which 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) has been used legitimately in Great Britain in the past.From discussions with stakeholders and from open-source research on DNP, the Home Office is aware that DNP had historically been legally used as a treatment for weight-loss before being declared unfit for human consumption in 19381. Information available online also suggests that DNP has had industrial uses as a fertiliser before the Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 was introduced to regulate its use2. Media reporting on DNP has also listed previous industrial uses in pesticides and industrial dyes, though the Home Office has no further information on the use of DNP for these purposes.In 2022, responses to the public consultation on amendments to the Poisons Act did not indicate that any members of the public who responded to the consultation used DNP for any legitimate purposes.1Public Health England, 2013 - PHE supports FSA warnings over deadly weight loss supplement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)2Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 2952 - Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 (legislation.gov.uk)

Animal Testing: Dogs

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help protect dogs from (a) cosmetic and (b) medical testing; and if she will make it her policy to take legislative steps to prohibit the use of dogs for (i) cosmetic and (ii) medical testing.

Tom Tugendhat: Animal testing of cosmetics to permit their marketing for consumer use has been banned in the UK since 1998. It is illegal to test cosmetic products or their ingredients on animals if that testing is to meet the requirements of the Cosmetics Regulations 2009. Chemicals legislation to protect human health and the environment may require animal testing as a last resort, where there are no alternatives, under the UK REACH Regulations. However, this does not include finished cosmetic products.Animal testing is required by global medicines regulators to protect human health and safety. Many products which would not be safe or effective in humans are detected through animal testing thus avoiding harm to humans.The Government is committed to assuring that those animals used in science, including dogs, are protected. The legal framework in the UK requires that animals are only ever used in scientific procedures where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm to animals is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.

Animal Breeding: Animal Testing

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has put checks in place to help ensure that commercial breeding licences for animal testing are used appropriately.

Tom Tugendhat: The use of animals in science is highly regulated. All establishments licensed to breed or supply animals, or to carry out regulated procedures on animals in Great Britain are subject to the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA), including a three-tier licensing system and standards for the care and accommodation of animals, published in the Code of Practice. The Home Office regularly audits the compliance of all licence holders including announced and unannounced on-site inspections.

Knives: Crime

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 for preventing the (a) sale and (b) possession of zombie knives.

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many zombie knives have been confiscated under the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 since the commencement of that Act.

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to announce which weapons will be included in the consultation on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to begin the consultation on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019; and for how long the consultation will be open.

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to allow (a) hon. Members, (b) Police and Crime Commissioners, (c) Chief Constables, (d) charities and (e) the public to participate in the consultation on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.

Chris Philp: The manufacture, importation and sale of Zombie knives was prohibited by The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment) Order 2016, in England and Wales. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 widened the offence to include the possession in private of zombie knives and other specified offensive weapons and extended the prohibition to Northern Ireland.As part of the measures of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we ran a surrender and compensation scheme, 14,965 offensive weapons were surrendered including 224 zombie type knives.We are not planning to carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, however we keep all legislation under review in the interests of public safety and will update Parliament if there are specific changes the Government has in mind.We are working closely with the police to see what more we can do to address the criminal use of large knives and machetes. Any future public consultation will be notified to parliament and published on .GOV and the scope of any items under consideration will be laid out in the consultation document. Public consultations are open to practitioners, stakeholders and members of the public.

Cybercrime: Bahrain

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to protect UK (a) nationals and (b) residents from cyberattacks and malicious hacking through the use of spyware by the Government of Bahrain.

Tom Tugendhat: The UK’s National Cyber Strategy commits us to countering the proliferation of high-end cyber capabilities and reducing the opportunity for states and organised crime groups to access them via commercial and criminal marketplaces, as well as tackling forums that enable, facilitate, or glamorise cyber criminality.The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) does not routinely avow details of its assessments of the capabilities of foreign governments. However, the cyber security of individuals and organisations is a high priority for the Government. The government is delivering a strategic programme of work to prevent attacks reaching citizens and organisations at scale. This includes a range of interventions such as identifying and removing malicious websites, building a national data sharing capability to enable industry to block malicious websites and attacks, advising banks of stolen customer credentials to enable them to protect their customers, and work to improve the resilience of UK telecoms networks.Opportunities for malicious actors have increased in line with improvements in connectivity and our growing reliance on digital services. At the same time, barriers to entry have fallen, granting those who were formerly unable the capability to conduct attacks. Government is continually learning from these incidents to further refine and improve our defences and incident management processes.With respect to spyware specifically, it is vital that all cyber capabilities are used in ways that are legal, responsible and proportionate to ensure cyberspace remains a safe and prosperous place for everyone. The UK currently considers public attribution of cyber attacks on a case-by-case basis, and has shown that we attribute malicious cyber activity where we believe it is in the best interests of the UK to do so.

Visas: Fees and Charges

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of removing priority service fees for applicants who have waited beyond the usual service standard.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants have been retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended for spouse visa applicants in March 2022.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether new spouse and partner visa applications are offered priority service after they have been submitted.

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when Priority and Super Priority visa services will be fully reinstated for spouse visa applicants.

Robert Jenrick: From 9 January 2023, UKVI re-introduced priority visa services for customers with an outstanding family overseas visa application.Priority visa services for new family overseas visa applications will be made available from 20 February 2023.  Super Priority visa services are currently offered for individuals applying for family leave to remain and family indefinite leave to remain applications from within the UK, and this service has been available throughout 2022. Customers who submit a family overseas visa application prior to 20 February 2023 will be offered the opportunity to use the Priority visa service in line with the current offer for customers who have an outstanding application. Data on the number of applicants retrospectively offered priority service since the service was temporarily suspended does not form part of any current transparency data and is not published.However, the transparency data does include a range of processing and service standard data and can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). UKVI are offering the Priority visa service to customers with existing family visa applications in date order. Customers with the oldest outstanding family visa applications have been contacted first in fairness to those who have waited the longest in the queue. Alongside this, work has continued to reduce standard processing times for family visa applicants currently awaiting a decision.

Asylum: Hotels

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on regulation of the temperature of rooms in hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does not have a policy around the room temperature. This is controlled within Health and Safety regulations at each hotel site.All hotel sites used by the Home Office conform to the accommodation standards and provision set out in Schedule 2 of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC).

Asylum: Temporary Accommodation

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there are circumstances in which asylum-seeking women and children would be moved into shared dispersal accommodation with (a) adult men and (b) single adult men.

Robert Jenrick: The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people.We take the safety and welfare of those in our care seriously and the Home Office has robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure those in our accommodation are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.Adult men are not accommodated with asylum seeking women and children in dispersal accommodation unless they are part of the same family group. Single adult men are not accommodated with female adults, families or unrelated children.

Asylum: Northern Ireland

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland after entering the asylum system.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of asylum seekers accommodated in specific types of accommodation, the duration of their receipt of support or the number at specific stages of the asylum process. These figures are not available in a reportable format and to provide the information could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Domestic Abuse: Criminal Investigation

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the safety of victims of domestic abuse whilst police investigations are underway and alleged perpetrators of that abuse are on bail.

Miss Sarah Dines: Tackling domestic abuse is a key Government priority. It is deeply harmful, not only because of the profound effect it can have on victims, survivors and their loved ones, but also because of the harm it inflicts on wider society.Under changes to the pre-charge bail system, introduced in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, there is a new duty on police to seek the views of victims on pre-charge bail conditions to ensure that conditions will better protect all victims, including victims of domestic abuse. Conditions of pre-charge bail are likely to include no contact with the victim and other measures for the protection and safety of the victim. Police forces can also use protective measures such as issuing a Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) or applying to the magistrate’s court for a civil Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO). They can use these independently or alongside bail conditions to provide greater protection for the victim.Frontline professionals can refer victims to their local Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC), a non-statutory process that brings together statutory and voluntary agencies to jointly support adult and child victims of domestic abuse who are at a high risk of serious harm or homicide, and to disrupt and divert the behaviour of the perpetrator(s).

Refugees: Afghanistan

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department keeps records of the number of unaccompanied children in each local authority in the UK from Afghanistan who were separated from their families during the evacuation of Kabul.

Robert Jenrick: We don't hold centralised data on this. However, following the evacuation of Kabul any children who we became aware of in the UK, that were not with their parents, would have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. When this has happened, we work in close collaboration with social services and the relevant local authority.

Migrant Help: Members

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 132405 on Migrant Help: Members, for what reason her Department has agreed with Migrant Help that that organisation should not respond directly to correspondence from hon. Members.

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February to Question 132405, if she will publish the agreement between Migrant Help and her Department on referring Members' correspondence.

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 132405, whether Migrant Help is able to respond directly to Members if they decide it is in the best interests of constituents to do so.

Robert Jenrick: All asylum seekers have access to a 24/7 Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service provided for the Home Office by Migrant Help where they can raise any concerns regarding accommodation or support services, and they can get information about how to obtain further support. As the data controller the Home Office are best placed to provide comprehensive responses to the requests of MPs. Should an MP approach Migrant Help directly, rather than the MPs correspondence team, Migrant Help will refer these requests to the appropriate MPs team to investigate and respond.

Visas: Skilled Workers

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the evidential basis is for the answer of 6 February from the Minister for Immigration, Official Report column 654, that the visa service is now working within its service standards in all respects.

Robert Jenrick: Visa decisions are being made within normal service standards and current processing times can be viewed on .GOV.uk - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visa-decision-waiting-times-applications-outside-the-uk#visit-the-uk.

Members: Correspondence

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2023 to Question 132405, whether her Department has other similar agreements with (a) charities and (b) independent organisations on responding to (i) Members and (ii) other officials.

Robert Jenrick: Correspondence from MPs related to immigration casework is referred to MP Account Management (MPAM) who then liaise with relevant Home Office officials to respond. For audit trail purposes MPAM log details all the correspondence in their MP correspondence system. Other correspondence is referred to the Direct Communications Unit who log it for audit purposes and transfer it to the relevant immigration caseworking team to respond.

Asylum: Poplar and Limehouse

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) people with an open asylum-seeking claim and (b) people in receipt of Section 95 Asylum Support there are in Poplar and Limehouse constituencies.

Robert Jenrick: The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab), under the document Asylum seekers in receipt of support (second edition)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab). Data are published on a quarterly basis, with the latest information published 24 November 2022. The next quarterly figures are due to be released in February 2023.

Refugees: Homelessness

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ending Section 95 asylum support 28 days after a newly-recognised refugee has received their immigration status documents on rates of homelessness amongst newly-recognised refugees.

Robert Jenrick: If an asylum seeker is granted refugee status, they gain immediate access to the labour market and receive advice to help them transition to the mainstream benefit system if they still require support. Newly recognised refugees are entitled to housing assistance from their local authority and are treated as a priority need if they have children or are considered vulnerable. The asylum accommodation estate is under huge strain and increasing the 28 day ‘move-on’ period would only exacerbate these pressures.

European Convention on Human Rights: Legal Opinion

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has sought legal advice on exiting the European Convention on Human Rights.

Robert Jenrick: Any legal advice received by the Home Office is subject to legal professional privilege and, as such, we do not comment on legal advice that may or may not have been sought or received.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Insulation

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether any residential buildings under 11 metres in height in Battersea constituency have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material cladding systems.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether any residential buildings between 11 and 18 metres in height in Battersea constituency have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material cladding systems.

Lee Rowley: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Ministerial Boxes

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much public money was spent by his Department in financial year 2021-22 on the procurement of ministerial red (a) boxes and (b) folders bearing the inscription Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Dehenna Davison: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Fire Prevention

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason the final developer remediation contract does not use the definition of relevant defect in the Building Safety Act 2022 to define life-critical fire-safety defects.

Lee Rowley: The definition of 'Defect' in the developer remediation contract and the definition of 'Relevant Defect' in the Building Safety Act were drafted for different purposes.The definition of 'Relevant Defect' in the Building Safety Act 2022 is used within the Act to cover a wide range of actors, defect types and circumstances. The definition of 'Defect' in the developer remediation contract was drafted to match the wording of a public pledge signed by 49 developers. Under the pledge and the contract which codifies the pledge commitments, developers specifically commit to addressing life-critical fire safety defects arising from works that were the developer's responsibility because they arise from the original design, construction or refurbishment of the building, and to do so in line with relevant standards.

Freeports: Ynys Môn

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a freeport in Anglesey on the economy in North Wales; and what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Wales on the Anglesey Freeport bid.

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of a freeport on the Isle of Anglesey on green energy.

Dehenna Davison: The Freeport Programme has great potential to contribute towards achieving the Government's decarbonisation agenda and net zero ambitions. Welsh Freeport bidders were required to demonstrate how Freeport status will enable them to contribute to these goals, which of course includes the use of green energy.It is inappropriate to comment on individual bids whilst the competition is ongoing. The bids are currently being jointly assessed by officials in the UK and Welsh Governments. Further announcements will be made in the usual way.

Freeports: Wales

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2023 to Question 138288 on Freeports: Wales, whether each and every individual approved freeport bid in Wales will receive £26 million of initial funding.

Dehenna Davison: Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 138288, announcements will be set out in the usual way.

Economic Growth: North of England

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support economic development in seaside towns in the North.

Dehenna Davison: The Government is committed to coastal communities and levelling-up across the UK. Recent interventions in Blackpool and Grimsby have led to tangible improvements and investment in these areas to kickstart economic growth and helped deepen our understanding of the challenges faced by northern coastal communities. For example, in Blackpool we have recently invested £30 million to unlock ambitious regeneration plans worth over £300 million through repurposing public land.Three out of the eight English Freeports are located in northern coastal areas which are designed to drive forward economic growth and innovation. Coastal communities also continue to benefit from the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, where we have just announced our support for over 100 more projects, including in Blackpool, Cleethorpes, and Hull. There are also 22 coastal towns that are recipients of Town Deals worth up to £25 million, in places like Whitby and Birkenhead. Overall, coastal areas across the UK will benefit from over £673 million of investment via the Towns Fund.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Artificial Intelligence

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the safety of human-level machine learning systems; and what steps she is taking to support AI safety research.

Paul Scully: To address the potential risks and opportunities presented by AI technology, the Office for AI is working at pace to develop a White Paper setting out our position on regulating AI.Our starting point is that the best way to realise the full economic and societal potential of AI is through a context-based approach to regulation, leveraging the sector expertise of our world-class regulators and focusing on real risks arising from the use of AI rather than the technology itself. This approach will establish a framework based on a set of cross-cutting principles to inform how regulators should tackle risks.As indicated by our policy statement in July 2022, we will ensure our approach to AI regulation is risk based, proportionate, and adaptable. Our approach will also look for ways to ensure effective horizon scanning, to monitor both immediate and long term AI risks. We will also make sure we deploy the full range of non-regulatory tools to support effective governance – including technical standards and assurance.In October 2022, we launched the AI Standards Hub, led by the Alan Turing Institute, to amplify the UK’s voice in the development of global technical standards for responsible AI. The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation have also set out their AI Assurance roadmap which aims to build an ecosystem for AI assurance.Alongside this, the Government provides funding via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for academic research, and last year, the Arts and Humanities Research Council announced £8.5m funding for research towards safe and ethical AI.Together, Government funding will ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of AI research globally – with research from the UK the third most cited globally, behind only the US and China.

Russia: Disinformation

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent steps she has taken to counter Russian misinformation.

Paul Scully: The Government takes the issue of disinformation (defined as false information which is intended to mislead) and misinformation (defined as false information disseminated without intent to mislead) seriously. The DSIT-led Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) is working to identify and counter Russian disinformation targeted at UK audiences.The CDU works to understand overall trends and coordinated attempts to artificially manipulate the information environment. We work closely with social media platforms including to encourage them to ensure that their policies and enforcement are fit for purpose and consistently applied, whilst still respecting freedom of expression. Though not its primary purpose, where the Unit does identify content which may violate platforms’ Terms of Service, these are referred to the relevant platform for consideration, who in turn decide what action to take.To identify and counter Russia’s propaganda and disinformation targeted at UK and international audiences, the Government Information Cell (GIC) has been established. The Cell specifically supports the UK's response to Russian disinformation relating to their invasion of Ukraine.We have also taken action to ban Russian propaganda online, including through sanctions against the worst offenders. Ofcom oversees the obligation on all UK-based entities to prevent access to propaganda services provided by state-owned entities Rossiya Segodnya and ANO TV Novosti, which owns RT.Under the Online Safety Bill, all social media companies subject to the safety duties will be required to take measures to remove illegal misinformation and disinformation once they become aware of it and to take proactive action against state-sponsored disinformation that is of most concern.

Telecommunications: Competition

Chi Onwurah: To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether Ofcom will report to her on telecoms and competition policy.

Paul Scully: As part of implementing the changes announced by the Prime Minister last week work is ongoing, at pace, to define arrangements with regulators and arm's length bodies. Further details will be made available in due course.

Public Libraries: Closures

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the impact of library closures on trends in the level of digital exclusion.

Paul Scully: Although there have been library closures, an extensive network of libraries remains across England delivering services including digital to local residents. There has been no assessment made of the impact of library closures on trends in the level of digital exclusion. There are over 2,900 libraries across England, and while there have been closures, they continue to be a well used service, providing a trusted network of accessible locations with trained staff and volunteers, free wifi and public PCs, and assisted digital access to a wide range of digital services.Based on a dataset of information on public libraries in England, published by Arts Council England, we estimated that around 230 static libraries have been permanently closed in the period 1 April 2010 to 31 December 2021 and have not been relocated or replaced.

Department for Business and Trade

Parental Leave and Pay

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2022 to Question 84999 on Parental Leave: Fathers, when she plans to publish her Department's response to the 2019 consultation on reforming parental leave and pay.

Kevin Hollinrake: In 2019, the Government consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. The Government is currently considering responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.  We are committed to making it easier for fathers to take Paternity Leave.

P&O Ferries: Redundancy

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she expects the Insolvency Service to deliver its conclusions on the civil investigation into redundancies made by P&O Ferries; and if she will make a statement.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Insolvency Service’s civil investigation into the circumstances surrounding the redundancies made by P&O Ferries is ongoing. As such it would not be appropriate to comment at this time.

Climate Change: International Cooperation

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much of the funding the UK committed to the NDC Partnership from 2019–25 has been disbursed.

Kevin Hollinrake: The amount of funding the that the UK has disbursed to NDC Partnership can be found at https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-13-ICF-0008-NDCP/transactions.

Conditions of Employment: Enforcement

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she expects the labour market enforcement strategy for 2023-2024 to be (a) completed and (b) published.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Director of Labour Market Enforcement’s 2023-24 Strategy is due to be presented to Secretaries of State in Spring. Following this, it will be published in due course.

Small Businesses: Trade Promotion

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many small businesses received support via the UK Trade Programme in 2022; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of that support.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding available for smaller companies to exhibit their trade overseas; and whether she has made an assessment of how that support compares to that offered by other countries in the World Trade Organisation.

Nigel Huddleston: Since launching on 30 November 2021, the UK Tradeshow Programme has had 419 applications seeking support to exhibit at (258), or attend (161*), trade shows overseas. The programme is currently running as a 16-month feasibility study, ending on 31 March 2023, and research to evaluate the programme is ongoing. As outlined in our 2021 Export Strategy “Made in the UK, sold to the World”, the Department is committed to improving exporting opportunities for businesses and monitoring our performance in this area to ensure continuous improvement.  *Pursuant to my replies to the hon. Member for Torfaen on 9 February 2023, UIN 126730 and 126731, which stated 164 attendee applications had been received, three applications have since been resolved as incomplete.

Visits Abroad: Saudi Arabia

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 118892, in which quarterly publication of ministerial transparency data details of Lord Grimstone's visit to Jeddah in July 2021 can be found.

Nigel Huddleston: Due to an administrative oversight, details of Lord Grimstone’s visit to Jeddah in July 2021 were omitted from the department’s published version of July to September 2021 transparency data. Details of this visit will be published as an amendment to this return as soon as possible.

EU Law: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional time for parliamentary scrutiny before automatically revoking certain retained EU law.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Retained EU law (REUL) will automatically cease to exist after 31 December 2023 unless the Government takes steps to keep it as “assimilated law” under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. This provides the most effective way to remove unnecessary or outdated EU laws, without taking up resources and parliamentary time to revoke every such law individually, and additional time for parliamentary scrutiny is not necessary. We will continue to update a published REUL dashboard which lists over 3,700 pieces of REUL to provide transparency about affected legislation. We will also be bringing forward an extensive programme of secondary legislation, subject to parliamentary scrutiny, to preserve, restate, or reform REUL where it is in the United Kingdom’s interests to do so. This includes powers to extend the sunset date, or revoke legislation proactively, in specific instances where this is more appropriate than a 31 December 2023 sunset.

Working Conditions: Disciplinary Proceedings

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill 2022-23, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that workers requested to work by a work notice will have a protection from (a) unfair dismissal and (b) other employment sanctions where an individual needs to leave their place of work in the context of section 44(1A) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Kevin Hollinrake: Section 44(1A) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that workers have the right not to suffer detriment for refusing to work in circumstances where the worker reasonably believed they were in serious and imminent danger. Section 100(1)(d) also provides protection to employees from dismissal in those circumstances. If an employee has been named on a work notice, in order for a minimum service level to be achieved, they will continue to be able to rely on section 44(1A) to protect them from detriment and section 100(1)(d) to protect them from dismissal for refusing to work because they reasonably believe that they are in serious and imminent danger as they do now.

Office for Product Safety and Standards

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether (a) regulatory and (b) prosecution powers have been lost by the Office for Product Safety and Standards following the UK's exit from the EU.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Office for Product Safety and Standards did not lose any regulatory or prosecution powers following the UK’s exit from the EU.

Talcum Powder: Health Hazards

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the health implications of long-term use of talcum powder in (a) infants and (b) adults; and if she will make a statement.

Kevin Hollinrake: An assessment of the health implications of long-term use of talcum powder in infants and adults has not been undertaken by the department. Talc as an ingredient can currently be used in various cosmetic products (including talcum powder). Any substance used in cosmetics must adhere to the Cosmetic Regulations.

Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016/1105

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, whether her Department plans to (a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016/1105.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Department for Business and Trade is reviewing all REUL in line with usual policy development to determine whether to repeal, replace or preserve it. We will continue to ensure that only safe pressure equipment products are placed on the market in the United Kingdom and that market surveillance authorities have the necessary enforcement powers.

Shipping: Pay

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to respond to the Low Pay Commission’s recent recommendations on seafarers and the accommodation offset.

Kevin Hollinrake: Department for Business and Trade officials are currently considering all recommendations that the Low Pay Commission have recently made, including those relating to seafarers and the accommodation offset. We will respond to these recommendations in due course.

Shipping: Pay

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to ensure that shipping companies cannot deduct the costs for onboard accommodation from seafarers’ wages; and whether she has had recent discussions with the Department for Transport on that matter.

Kevin Hollinrake: Department for Business and Trade officials are working closely with the Department for Transport on their Seafarers Wages Bill, these discussions include accommodation provisions and the deduction of costs for seafarers.The Low Pay Commission recently recommended that seafarers be exempt from accommodation offset while on-board ships, the Government is considering this and will respond in due course.

Royal Mail: Cybercrime

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the impact on (a) consumers and (b) businesses of the recent cyber attack on Royal Mail.

Kevin Hollinrake: The cyber incident affecting Royal Mail is an operational matter for the business to address. Royal Mail has been working with the National Cyber Security Centre and law enforcement partners to resolve the incident. Universal postal service performance standards are set and monitored by Ofcom as the independent regulator for postal services. Ofcom requires Royal Mail to have plans in place in the event of an incident that may severely disrupt postal services and it has informed Ofcom of the incident. Ofcom continues to monitor Royal Mail’s performance to ensure it is providing the best service possible to its customers.

Trade

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to help ensure her Department (a) promotes investment and (b) champions free trade in (i) all parts of the UK and (ii) Northern Ireland.

Nigel Huddleston: This department supports businesses in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland on the ground through our Trade and Investment Hubs, ensuring businesses across the UK can access the right support at the right time. These Hubs increase our capacity to engage nationally on trade policy issues and influence regional thinking so that we drive competitiveness and investment in all nations.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an estimate of the level of seafarer jobs that will be place in the offshore wind supply chain in each year to 2030.

Graham Stuart: The Department does not hold specific information on seafarer job numbers but, as set out in the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government estimates that around 90,000 direct and indirect jobs will be supported by the offshore wind sector by 2030.

Ofgem: Standards

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to take steps to (a) improve and (b) regularly assess Ofgem's effectiveness as a regulator.

Graham Stuart: The energy market is currently facing unprecedented challenges. Ofgem recognises how its regulatory approach over the last 18 months has contributed to supplier failure and the related issues within the energy supply market. Ofgem is therefore taking steps to ensure that the supply market is more robust. This includes a package of reforms designed to bolster consumer protection and ensure energy suppliers are more resilient to market shocks.

Wood-burning Stoves: Regulation

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he has taken to (a) update and (b) expand Ecodesign product regulation.

Graham Stuart: In November 2021 the Government published its Energy-Related Products Framework, setting out plans for improving and building on these standards where they can achieve additional benefits to consumers, businesses and the Government's Net Zero objectives. The Government is currently consulting on Improving Boiler Standards and Efficiency which looks at Ecodesign alongside other policy measures, and on New Ecodesign Requirements for Lighting Products which includes ambitious proposals to improve lighting efficiency to bring costs down for consumers.

Heat Network Efficiency Scheme

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many applications there have been for (a) revenue and (b) capital grants under the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme.

Graham Stuart: The Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES), the £32m grant programme, opened for applications on Tuesday 7th February 2023 with the first funding round closing to applicants on 31st March 2023. As of 8th February 2023 the Government has not received any applications (revenue or capital), nor allocated any funding.

Energy: Meters

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he plans to take to provide safeguards to prevent customers on smart meters from being remotely switched to prepay mode without their consent.

Graham Stuart: Energy suppliers are obligated under licence conditions to follow strict rules when switching a smart meter from credit to prepayment mode, to safeguard consumers. Suppliers must only provide a prepayment service when a consumer is in debt where they assess that it is safe and reasonably practicable to do so. The supplier's assessment should include identifying any vulnerability, such as a disability, that prevents a consumer from being able to use appropriately a prepayment meter or customers that require a continuous energy supply for health reasons. If energy suppliers assess it is safe and reasonably practicable, they must then give at least seven days’ notice in advance of the change from credit to prepay mode on the smart meter. The regulator, Ofgem, is reviewing energy supplier compliance with these requirements and has made it clear they will take strong action where suppliers have failed to follow them.

Boilers: Rural Areas

Virginia Crosbie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether it is his Department's policy to continue with the proposed 2026 boiler ban for off-grid properties.

Graham Stuart: The Government consulted on phasing out the installation of heating systems using high carbon fossil fuels in homes, businesses and public buildings in England off the gas grid during the 2020s. We will set out further details on these proposals when we respond to these consultations in due course.

Energy: Meters

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of how many households have been forced onto prepayment meters (a) by warrant and (b) via remote switching since the start of December 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Government has asked energy suppliers to share data on the number of warrants that they have requested for the forcible fitting of prepayment meters; this request has been backed by Ofgem who have encouraged suppliers to be transparent with their data. Additionally, Ofgem has announced a Market Compliance Review focused on remote switching and forced installations to assess if suppliers have wrongly been switching customers to prepayment meters and will take action if licence conditions are found to have been breached.

Utilities: Licensing

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Government plans to give Ofgem additional powers to take enforcement action against suppliers who breach their licence conditions.

Graham Stuart: There are no plans to give Ofgem further enforcement powers. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to Ofgem on 4 February welcoming their recent Market Compliance Reviews (MCR) and setting out the expectation that strong and immediate action is taken where suppliers have fallen short of their obligations. Ofgem publishes details of its compliance and enforcement action on its website at: www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/compliance-and-enforcement.

Climate Change: International Cooperation

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much of the funding committed to the International Climate Finance between 2021-22 and 2025-26 has been disbursed.

Graham Stuart: The Government is committed to delivering its International Climate Finance (ICF) contribution of £11.6 billion in 2021/22-2025/26. The government publishes ICF spending through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The most recent data can be found here: UK's Eighth National Communication and Fifth Biennial Report under the UNFCCC. The next report, which will cover ICF spent in 2021 and 2022 is due at the end of 2024. The UK’s Biennial Finance Communication to the UNFCCC at https://unfccc.int/Art.9.5-biennial-communications has more details on the UK’s ICF commitments and there is further information about the UK’s ICF programmes at https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/department.

Verra: Carbon Emissions

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the REDD+ Early Movers Programme uses the company Verra to verify carbon emission reductions from avoided deforestation.

Graham Stuart: The REDD Early Movers Programme does not use the company Verra to verify carbon emission reductions.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: Charging Points

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he is taking steps to ensure that consumers charging their electric vehicles from the public network benefit from the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme is for households not businesses.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: Charging Points

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of whether charge point operators have been complying with his Department's guidance on passing on Energy Bills Support Scheme funding to consumers in the period since 1 November 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme is delivering a £400 non-repayable government discount to households across the United Kingdom to help with energy bills this winter. The £400 is for domestic use and is not provided to electric vehicle charge point operators.

Energy: Meters

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Answer from the Minister for Climate to the Question from the hon. Member for Glasgow North on 6 February 2023, Official Report, column 678, on what evidential basis he said that it was highly unlikely that the ratio of those on prepayment meters has changed since 2020.

Graham Stuart: The BEIS 2022 Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report highlights that in 2020, 31% of households with an electricity prepayment meter were fuel poor (11% of households paying by direct debit were fuel poor and 15% who paid by cash and cheque): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-fuel-poverty-statistics-report-2022.Updated statistics are due to be published on 28 February 2023.

Business: Environment Protection

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many businesses have shared their climate transition plans with his Department.

Graham Stuart: 3700 UK small businesses have joined the UN’s Race to Zero initiative, as have two thirds of the FTSE 100. One of the requirements for businesses joining the initiative is that they publicly disclose their Transition Plans within twelve months of joining. It is also important to highlight the very valuable work of the Transition Plan Taskforce, which has published its disclosure framework and implementation guidance for gold standard transition plans. In January 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority introduced rules for listed companies to disclose transition plans, initially on a comply or explain basis. The first disclosures under these rules will be made in 2023.

Electricity Generation: Infrastructure

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January to Question 120157, what financial support the Government has provided to (a) the operators of Hawthorn Pit and (b) Drax for the cabling from Peterhead and Torness.

Graham Stuart: Financial support for network infrastructure projects, including the Peterhead and Torness projects, is regulated by Ofgem as the independent energy regulator through the ‘RIIO’ price controls. While the government engages with Ofgem and network operators regularly, decisions on network investment are a matter for Ofgem. The Government welcomes strategic transmission network projects and their acceleration to support the 2030 offshore wind ambition, as set out in Ofgem’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment framework.

Electricity Generation: Infrastructure

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 127911 on Electricity Generation: Infrastructure, if he will make an estimate of the value of (a) 35 TWH as of 7 February 2023 and (b) 124 TWH in 2030.

Graham Stuart: The value of electricity can be estimated using recent wholesale electricity prices, which are published regularly on Ofgem’s website. It is worth noting that wholesale electricity prices have been volatile over recent years and vary by season. Wholesale electricity prices for 2030 would be more challenging to estimate accurately, though current prices could be used as a proxy. Alternatively, retail prices could be used to derive the retail value of electricity. These are published by the Government and can be found in table 4 on this link.

Boilers: Natural Gas

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral evidence by the Minister for Energy and Climate to the Scottish Affairs Committee on 16 January 2023, HC 83, whether he plans to implement the recommendation of the Independent Review of Net Zero to bring forward the date of phasing out new and replacement gas boilers from 2033 to 2035.

Graham Stuart: The Heat and Buildings Strategy set out the UK's aim to phase out the installation of new and replacement natural gas boilers from 2035, to ensure all heating systems used in 2050 are compatible with net zero. This would mean when consumers replace their heating source, they replace it with a low-carbon or low-carbon ready appliance. The Government is considering the recommendations made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood in the Independent Review of Net Zero, and will respond in due course.

Energy: Ceredigion

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of households in Ceredigion that cannot benefit from smart metering because of inadequate connectivity.

Graham Stuart: As many households and small businesses as possible should benefit from smart metering. The Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the national communications infrastructure for smart metering, is obligated under its licence to provide coverage to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain. The energy regulator Ofgem is responsible for ensuring the DCC complies with its obligations. The Government does not hold information on network coverage at a constituency level.

Cabinet Office

Ministers: Taxation

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Prime Minister will amend the ministerial code to require all new Ministers to publish their tax returns.

Jeremy Quin: The Ministerial Code was last updated on 22 December 2022. There are no plans for any further updates.In submitting their ministerial interest form Ministers are asked to declare their relevant interests in a number of categories. One such area on which information is required is Ministers’ tax affairs. The Prime Minister has recently re-affirmed the importance of ensuring this duty is undertaken conscientiously.As stated in the answer of 2 February 2023, Official Report, PQ 135428, the Prime Minister has stated his intention to publish his own tax return, which will be published in due course.However, as has been the case under successive administrations, it is not the intention of the Government to require all Ministers to publish their tax returns. In public life, a balance must be struck between reasonable expectations of privacy and accountability. This reflects that Parliament has previously legislated to maintain the principle of taxpayer confidentiality.

Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) (Identity Verification Services) Regulations 2023

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to respond to the consultation on the draft Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) (Identity Verification Services) Regulations 2023, published on 4 January 2023.

Alex Burghart: The public consultation is due to run until 1 March 2023. Following this, the Cabinet Office will publish a government response and written ministerial statement to the public consultation within the period set out in Cabinet Office consultation principles guidance.

Treasury

Treasury: Written Questions

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will answer Question 136859 on High-risk Wealth Programme tabled on 31 January 2022 by the hon. Member for Ealing North.

Victoria Atkins: PQ UIN 136859 has now been answered.

High-risk Wealth Programme

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 131456 on High-risk Wealth Programme, how many of the cases considered for inclusion in the High-Risk Wealth Programme were included in the programme.

Victoria Atkins: The High Risk Wealth Programme was introduced in 2017-18. It is HMRC’s duty to ensure everyone pays the right tax under the law, regardless of wealth or status. HMRC’s compliance approach to the Wealthy Customer Group brought in an estimated £2.5 billion in compliance yield in 2021-22. This is tax that would otherwise have gone unpaid without HMRC’s intervention. HRWP is just one aspect of our compliance approach, you can find out more about HMRC’s compliance approach here. The programme is reserved for our most complex and highest risk cases, and we therefore do not expect a large number of cases to enter these programmes each year. Over 2017-18 to 2021-22, two thirds of cases considered were included in the High Risk Wealth Programme (HRWP).

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of applications to HMRC for discretionary refunds of the higher rate of Stamp Duty Land Tax were accepted for people who own properties in buildings with issues with external wall cladding.

Victoria Atkins: HM Revenue & Customs does not record the number of refunds of the higher rates of SDLT made in relation to issues with external wall cladding.

Financial Services: Environment Protection

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report of the all-party parliamentary group on environmental, social, and governance on the UK Green Taxonomy, published in December 2022.

Andrew Griffith: The government is committed to implementing a green taxonomy as part of its sustainable finance agenda. However, the government is clear that the value of a taxonomy rests on its credibility as a practical and useful tool for investors, companies, consumers and regulators in supporting access to sustainable finance. The government has been engaging closely with the independent Green Technical Advisory Group and is considering the recommendations which they have recently published. The government has noted the publication of the UK Green Taxonomy report by the APPG on Environmental, Social, and Governance and will consider the views of a variety of stakeholders as it prepares to set out its next steps in the Green Finance Strategy in the coming months.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2022 to Question 105322 and to the Answer of 15 November from the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to Question 902288, Official Report column 513, when the Economic Secretary plans to meet with the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall on the case raised in that Question.

Andrew Griffith: I can confirm that my office has contacted the hon. Member to organise a meeting for us to engage on the details of his constituent’s case.

Electricity Generation: Taxation

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of including the potential benefits of (a) gas, (b) pumped storage hydroelectricity, (c) battery storage, (d) coal and (e) oil generation in the Electricity Generator Levy.

James Cartlidge: The Electricity Generator Levy applies to groups generating electricity from nuclear and renewable (including biomass) sources and energy from waste. The Government outlined its assessment of the merits of applying the Levy to a broader section of generation technologies in paras 1.44 to 1.51 of the technical note published at Autumn Statement which is available online: www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generator-levy-technical-note

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many financial penalties have been issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation for breaches of sanctions under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022; and what is the total value of those penalties.

James Cartlidge: HM Treasury, through the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), is the UK’s competent authority responsible for the implementation of financial sanctions. It is therefore the body responsible for civil enforcement of financial sanctions breaches.  The details of civil monetary penalties issued by OFSI are published on GOV.UK here [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/enforcement-of-financial-sanctions].

Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation: Staff

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in each of the last 5 years in each grade.

James Cartlidge: HM Treasury and OFSI have been at the front and centre of an unprecedented financial sanctions response. Russia’s unprovoked and unwarranted attack on a sovereign nation brought war back to Europe. The government has recognised this and strengthened OFSI’s powers to enforce financial sanctions as well as its resources. For Information on the staffing of OFSI at the end of 2021, I refer the rt hon Member to the answer given on 18 March 2022 to PQ UIN 138101. Information on OFSI staff numbers at end 2022 is available in the OFSI 2022 Annual review available here :https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1116689/OFSI_Annual_Review_2021-22_10.11.22.pdf

Sanctions: Russia

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times Ministers in his Department were (a) consulted on and (b) asked to authorise, waivers or exemptions for designations under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 sanctions regime and subsequent amendments.

Pat McFadden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the total value of authorised waivers or exemptions to any sanction regime agreed by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation in each of the last five years, broken down by sanctions regime.

James Cartlidge: HM Treasury does not comment on individual licensing cases. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) does not disclose data from specific licences it has granted under UK sanctions regimes. Information about numbers of licences granted can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review which is publicly available on OFSI’s website.

Research and Development Tax Credit: Employment

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of relating research and development tax credits to research and development employment rather than research and development activity.

Victoria Atkins: The Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs take account of companies’ expenditure on R&D employees. For staff working directly on an R&D project, companies can claim relief for salary costs, Class 1 National Insurance contributions, and pension fund contributions. However, other costs are also important and support relief, for example materials used in the R&D. From April 2023, data and cloud computing will be included as new qualifying costs within the R&D reliefs.

Tax Allowances

Sarah Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidelines are followed by HMRC when making decisions on the allocation of discretionary financial awards.

Victoria Atkins: The payment of rewards by HMRC is discretionary. The reward application must evidence the quality of the information provided, the extent and value to which the information contributed to HMRC assigned matters, and the result. Consideration must be given to any seizure details; revenue received/recovered; arrests; penalties; and the alleged value of a case being prosecuted by HMRC should be considered, where appropriate. When processing a reward each case will be dealt with on its own merits.

Tax Allowances

Sarah Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value of discretionary financial awards paid for by HMRC in each of the last six financial years.

Victoria Atkins: Rewards figures paid by HMRC are published in the annual reports and accounts on the gov.uk website:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts

Cost of Living: Visual Impairment

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to help ensure that increases in the cost of living do not disproportionately impact (a) blind and (b) partially sighted people.

John Glen: The Government recognises that the rising cost of living has presented additional financial challenges to many people, and especially to the most vulnerable members of society, such as blind or partially sighted people. That is why the Government is taking decisive and targeted action to get households through this winter, ensuring the cost of living does not disproportionately impact vulnerable households, whilst also acting in a fiscally responsible way. People who are blind or partially sighted and in receipt of extra-costs disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) will have received a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 last year to help with the rising cost of living and will receive a further £150 Cost of Living Payment this year. These payments can be received in addition to the £650 Cost of Living Payment delivered in 2022/23 and the £900 payment which will be delivered in 2024/25 for households on means-tested benefits, or the two £300 Cost of Living Payments for pensioners last and this year. Individuals who have limited or no ability to work because of their disability or health condition and are in receipt of means-tested benefits such as income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the Universal Credit Health top up, are eligible for the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments. People who are blind or partially sighted will also benefit from other forms of non-means-tested support which the Government is providing to assist with household energy bills. We have taken decisive action to support millions of UK households with rising energy costs this winter and throughout next year through the Energy Price Guarantee, ​which limits the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity. In addition to the Energy Price Guarantee, millions of the most vulnerable households will receive further support in 2022/23 through the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme. The £150 Council Tax rebate will also mean that all households in Council Tax bands A-D in England will receive a rebate, and 99% of eligible households have already received this. Lastly, to support households who need further help or who are not eligible for elements of the wider package of support, the Government has provided £2.5bn in funding for local support to help with the cost of essentials until the end of March 2024, via the Household Support Fund. This cost of living support is in addition to the existing specific financial support to help blind or partially sighted people. The Government provides the Blind Person's Allowance (BPA), an extra amount of tax-free allowance that can be added to an individual’s Personal Allowance, to those who are blind or severely sight impaired. In 2022/23, the allowance is £2,600 and therefore worth £520 given the basic rate of 20%. If the recipient does not pay tax or earn enough to use their full BPA, the remainder of the allowance can be transferred to a spouse or civil partner. We are continuing to keep the situation under review and are focusing support on the most vulnerable whilst ensuring we act in a fiscally responsible way.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help support people who (a) took out mortgages before 2008 and are unable to switch to cheaper mortgage deals and (b) are likely to have high interest rates on their new mortgage deals.

Andrew Griffith: The Government has worked with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to implement changes to its mortgage lending rules, removing the regulatory barrier that prevented some customers, who otherwise may have been able to switch, from accessing new products. Ultimately, the pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders, and the Government cannot force lenders to lend to borrowers that sit outside of their risk appetite. While we remain open to practical and proportionate solutions to help those who may be unable to switch to new mortgage deals, any further work on this issue must consider their effects on the wider mortgage market, including the resilience of firms and fairness to other borrowers. If mortgage borrowers do fall into financial difficulty, FCA guidance requires firms to provide support through tailored forbearance options. In December, the Chancellor held a roundtable with the major mortgage lenders, the FCA and Martin Lewis to discuss support for vulnerable mortgage borrowers. In this meeting, attendees confirmed the support lenders will provide and the steps borrowers should take to help those who are struggling return to a position where their mortgage is affordable and sustainable over the long term. The Chancellor also made clear his expectation that every lender live up to their responsibilities and support any mortgage borrowers who are finding it tough right now. The Government has also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest loans for those in receipt of an income-related benefit, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, which makes clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders. More broadly, the Government has taken decisive action to support households across the UK through the cost-of-living challenges ahead, whilst remaining fiscally responsible. In addition to the £37 billion of support for the cost of living already announced for 2022-23, the Government has announced further support for next financial year designed to target the most vulnerable households. This cost-of-living support is worth £26 billion in 2023-24, in addition to benefits uprating, which is worth £11 billion to working age households and people with disabilities. The Government is also continuing to provide support to all households through the Energy Price Guarantee, which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Biofuels: Industry

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to help develop the UK's biomass industry.

Trudy Harrison: The Government intends to publish a Biomass Strategy later this year, which will review the amount of sustainable biomass, including perennial energy crops and short rotation forestry, available to the UK. The Strategy will examine how biomass could be best used across the economy to help achieve the Government’s net zero and wider environmental commitments, while also supporting energy security.  The Government announced £36 million of funding for the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation programme, funded through the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The Programme aims to increase the production of sustainable biomass feedstocks in the UK by funding innovative ideas that address barriers to biomass feedstock production. The knowledge developed from these projects will help to inform future policy on domestic biomass.

Environment: Armed Conflict

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the debate entitled Environmental impact of armed conflict, which took place at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 January 2023.

Trudy Harrison: The Secretary of State understands that the debate at the Council of Europe raised prominent issues about the devastating effects that armed conflicts have on the environment. The Secretary of State has confidence in the UK’s approach and actions on this issue, particularly in Ukraine.The Government works with and supports international partners and organisations collecting evidence of the environmental impact of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The theft of environmental resources is one element of the damage conflicts can cause, which is why Defra has invested £1.5 million to create a grain verification reference database to help identify stolen grain from Ukraine, and £1.1 million to support the collection of timber samples in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.In June 2023, the UK and Ukraine will jointly host the Ukraine Recovery Conference to underline the UK’s enduring commitment to Ukraine. The restoration of its environment is one part of this recovery.

Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Retained EU Law Bill, whether she plans to (a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007.

Mark Spencer: Defra is in the process of analysing and assessing its retained EU law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill, including in relation to the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007.

Shipping: Environment Protection

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to achieve good maritime environmental status.

Trudy Harrison: Plans for the achievement of good environmental status (GES) are set out in the UK Marine Strategy. Through this we assess the status of UK seas and set the criteria, targets and indicators to be used in assessing GES.

Water Charges: Government Assistance

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to help support people with the cost of water bills.

Rebecca Pow: I am very mindful that consumers are concerned about their bills. Government expects all water companies to make sure customers are aware of the schemes that are available if they need support to pay their bills. These include bill discount schemes, payment holidays, adjusting payment plans and getting support for customers on managing their personal finances. I encourage customers to access the Consumer Council for Water’s Advice Hub, which has information and useful tools to help customers reduce their bills or access financial support. To support people with the cost of living, Government have put in place a substantial package of support. Further information can be found here: Cost of living support - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Nature for Climate Fund

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Nature for Climate Fund has been spent; and on which projects.

Trudy Harrison: There is over £650 million available through the Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) to support tree planting, woodland creation and management until 2025. For 2022/23 alone we have made available:over £25 million through the England Woodland Creation Offer£9.4 million of additional funding to support tree nurseries, and development of workforce and skills to support the creation of woodland£44.5 million NCF Year 3 funding for Woodland Creation Partnerships and Community Forests£7.8 million for a new Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund to build local authority capacity to plan new woodlands (NCF+ funding)£2 million to support the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Levelling Up Parks Fund£12.8 million to the Peatland Restoration Grant Scheme. Over £14 million is available through the Local Authority Treescapes Fund and Urban Tree Challenge Fund which allow both local authorities and community groups to access funds for new tree-planting projects. These have just reopened and we would encourage local authorities and community groups to apply and support tree planting in their local areas. The NCF is already providing over £33 million to restore 20,000 hectares of peatlands, with a further bidding round in 2023.The NCF Discovery Grant has also awarded over £5 million to 15 projects across England, stretching from Dorset to Northumberland, enabling the foundation work needed to prepare for the restoration of over 51,000 ha of peatland.

Fisheries: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support fishing communities in (a) Strangford constituency and (b) Northern Ireland.

Mark Spencer: Since leaving the EU, the UK Government continues to provide £3.1 million annually through the Maritime and Fisheries Fund (NI) to support Northern Ireland fishing stakeholders for investments tailored to the specific needs of the sector and its dependent communities. In addition, the £100 million UK Seafood Fund is offering support to fishing communities across the UK including Strangford and Northern Ireland by reforming and modernising infrastructure and delivering science and innovation to inform fisheries management. So far, we have awarded £350,000 in Northern Ireland to projects involving the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute who are working in partnership with industry to provide valuable research. The UK Seafood Fund is also encouraging new entrants to industry whilst upskilling the existing workforce and a new £2 million funding round is now available to the small-scale coastal fleet in Northern Ireland for the replacement of new engines that will provide much needed support for the catching sector.The Department has also worked in UK-EU consultations to secure a good outcome on the management of stocks of interest to Northern Irish fishers, including new access arrangements to fish albacore tuna in EU waters, and increased fishing opportunities for Nephrops in 2023.

Plant Varieties Act 1997

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, whether his Department plans to (a) restate, (b) reproduce or (c) replace the Plant Varieties Act 1997.

Trudy Harrison: Defra is in the process of analysing and assessing its retained EU law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, including in relation to the Plant Varieties Act 1997.

Nature Conservation

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Red List Index for England for species extinction risk.

Trudy Harrison: There is no single way to measure the health of our biodiversity. That is why we have set four legally binding targets to drive and measure improvements in nature recovery in England. These targets are: to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; then to reverse declines by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction by 2042; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, also by 2042. Our goal is that the species abundance target will drive an overall increase in population sizes, and the species extinction risk target will promote the recovery of the rarest or fast declining species, while preventing species at a lesser threat risk from declining further. We have set out our plan and policies to deliver our species extinction and other biodiversity targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) published 31 January 2023. The EIP23 revises the 25 Year Environment Plan as part of our obligations under the Environment Act. We, and our agencies, continue to work with partners to recover our threatened species. Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme supports the recovery of threatened and declining species in partnership with a number of stakeholder organisations. In 2022/23, Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme is targeting 215 species across 95 projects. Through its Species Recovery Programme so far, Natural England has funded projects for species including curlew, wart biter cricket, lady’s slipper orchid, and red-backed shrike.

Cats: Imports

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cats were commercially imported into Great Britain in each month in 2022.

Rebecca Pow: MonthTotal number of cats commercially importedJanuary645February797March789April635May512June453July584August488September613October595November591December610 This information is drawn from external TRACES and IPAFF systems, which are not directly controlled by the department.

Research and Innovation: Expenditure

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the ONS dataset on Business enterprise research and development UK: 2021, published on 22 November 2022, what assessment she has made of the reasons for trends in R&D expenditure on (a) agriculture, hunting and forestry and (b) fishing between 2018 to 2021.

Mark Spencer: Defra has not conducted specific analysis on the latest R&D statistics from the ONS, which include updated figures for business, higher education sector, and economy-wide R&D investment. These are the result of ongoing efforts to improve data accuracy and ensure decisions are based on robust and reliable information. Defra’s own investment in R&D is increasing over the spending review period and includes programmes like the Farming Innovation Programme which began in 2021 and is designed to encourage innovation in the sector.

Agriculture: Ecology

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing funding for agroecology on levels of food insecurity.

Mark Spencer: Our food system is dependent on maintaining a healthy and sustainable natural environment, providing us with the inputs we need to continue to grow, rear and produce food domestically. This is complemented by international trade to provide our high level of food security.Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector, meeting our commitment to broadly maintain current levels of food production, alongside environmental improvements that benefit us all. Our schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil, water, and biodiverse ecosystems.UK food supply comprises domestic production excluding exports, plus imported food, and the production to supply ratio has remained stable over the last two decades. Production to supply ratios are regularly kept under review as part of our wider ongoing work on food security. The UK Food Security Review is a review of the evidence landscape for all aspects of food security, and the 2024 edition will take account of any new data sources produced since 2021.We are currently undertaking research to examine future land use and agricultural strategies to balance environmental and food production outcomes. This work is helping to inform the development of the Land Use Framework.

Dogs: Animal Welfare

Giles Watling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Code of Practice for the Welfare for Dogs will be reviewed.

Rebecca Pow: Defra’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs provides dog owners and keepers with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their animals, as required under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The code of practice is kept under review and updated when required, and in line with legislative developments and changes in animal welfare practice.

Cats: Imports

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cats were commercially imported into Great Britain in each year since 2018.

Rebecca Pow: YearTotal number of commercially imported cats20183,80920195,28620206,768202111,13420227,312 This information is drawn from external TRACES and IPAFF systems, which are not directly controlled by the department.

Pesticides

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce pesticide use; and if she will make it her policy to ban the use of bee-toxic neonicotinoids.

Mark Spencer: The Government is clear that it is right to minimise the use of pesticides so that they are only applied when necessary. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) lies at the heart of our approach to minimising the environmental impact of pesticides and is a key tool for businesses facing the challenges of pesticide resistance and changing pest pressures due to climate change. To support this, we have introduced new paid IPM actions within the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme this year. Increased support for IPM approaches will also be a feature of the upcoming National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of pesticides. The EU withdrew approval for the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) from December 2018. The UK supported this move based on the growing weight of scientific evidence that these pesticides are harmful to bees and other pollinators. The Government’s position has not changed. Pesticides legislation allows emergency authorisations to be granted for pesticides including neonicotinoids for limited and controlled use in special circumstances where it appears necessary because of a danger that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means.

Animal Products: Imports

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on bringing forward a full prohibition on the import of fur, foie gras and hunting trophies from overseas into the UK.

Mark Spencer: The Action Plan for Animal Welfare outlined our intention to explore potential action on the import of animal fur. We have since conducted a Call for Evidence on the fur sector along with other forms of engagement with interested parties. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, and we are also committed to building a clear evidence base to inform any potential future decisions relating to foie gras imports.The Government has pledged to ban the imports of hunting trophies from thousands of species. We are committed to a ban that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We are supporting the Private Member’s Bill led by the hon. Member for Crawley that will deliver this.

Recreation Spaces

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the green social prescribing projects announced in July 2020.

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on green social prescribing; and if she will make a statement.

Trudy Harrison: In October 2020, the Government launched a £5.77 million programme, led by Defra, aimed at preventing and tackling mental ill health through green social prescribing. The programme has already recorded over 6,000 referrals. The programme is being evaluated by a consortium led by the University of Sheffield, and is assessing processes, outcomes and value for money, in order to inform implementation and future policy and practice. The interim evaluation report provides us with some very encouraging findings about the success of the programme so far and is due to be published shortly. A full evaluation report will follow in June 2023. After the programme closes in March 2023, we will continue to take action to embed and scale green social prescribing across Government and within society. The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out our current policy position on green social prescribing. The Secretary of State does not plan to make any further statement.

Food: Standards

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 135431, on Food: Standards, if he will make it his policy to bring forward legislative proposals to create a statutory requirement that food standards will be maintained or enhanced following the passage of the Retained EU Law Bill.

Mark Spencer: The Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy The Government is in the process of analysing and assessing retained EU law to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Re-tained EU Law (REUL) (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Environmental Land Management Schemes: Flood Control

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether payments available for farmers to create new habitat to (a) hold flood water and (b) enhance the capacity of existing habitat for holding flood water under the Environmental Land Management Scheme.

Mark Spencer: Yes, the Environmental Land Management schemes will pay farmers and land managers for a number of actions to increase resilience to flooding through nature-based solutions such as natural flood management. The Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme already has a number of grants which help manage flood risk on land, including through the creation, restoration and management of habitat such as fenland, reedbeds, inter-tidal habitat, scrub, and river and wetland habitats. As we enhance CS going forward, we will continue to pay for flood mitigation efforts through habitat creation and management. In addition to what is already available in CS and the Sustainable Farming Incentive, we plan to pay for new actions including, for example, enhancing floodwater storage, slowing the flow through maintaining the roughness of ground and sphagnum in the uplands, restoration and management of peatland, management of floodplain meadows and grassland for flood resilience, and restoration of coastal cliff habitats. The first competitive round of Landscape Recovery in 2022 awarded funding to 22 projects which collectively aim, among other environmental benefits, to restore over 400 miles of rivers. Landscape Recovery round two, which will open this year, will focus on net zero, protected sites, and habitat creation, which could include projects creating and enhancing peatland, nature reserves and protected sites such as wetlands and salt marshes. We published further detail of what we will pay for in the Environmental Land Management Update in January 2023.

Bakery Products: Labelling

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the UK Baking Industry Code of Practice for the Labelling of Sourdough Bread and Rolls, published by the Association of Bakery Ingredient Manufacturers on 31 January 2023.

Mark Spencer: The Government welcomes the development of a code of practice by the UK baking industry to help with consistency and best practice in relation to the labelling of sourdough bread and rolls. We encourage all those involved in the production and marketing of sourdough to work together to ensure the code represents the best interests of all involved. Industry codes of practice can provide a useful resource to support a level playing field for businesses. It should be noted that these are not authoritative statements of law, existing food labelling legislation ensures that the labelling and marketing of food does not mislead consumers. The Government has no plans to introduce new regulations on the use of the term sourdough. The Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency.

Nature Conservation: Mental Health

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential benefits of nature on mental health and wellbeing.

Trudy Harrison: The Government recognises the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in nature and has committed to ensure that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk of a green and blue space. The Environmental Improvement Plan, published on 31 January this year, states that the “evidence is clear that spending time in nature is beneficial for our physical and mental health” and sets out our plans to incorporate green and blue spaces into the healthcare system.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in favourable condition.

Trudy Harrison: The condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in England is assessed by Natural England using UK agreed common standards monitoring. SSSI condition summary reports are available to download from Natural England’s Designated Sites View. As of 9 February 2023, 37.9% of SSSIs (by area) are estimated to be in favourable condition https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/ReportConditionSummary.aspx?SiteType=ALL